The Ministry of Infrastructure announced the expansion of the toll road network for vehicles weighing over 3.5 tonsThe new fees are to cover sections of motorways and expressways that have been in operation since 2017. The regulation of the Ministry of Infrastructure is to be adopted in the third quarter of 2024.
Tolls on motorways. Ministry of Infrastructure explains
At the end of 2021, the then Minister of Infrastructure, Andrzej Adamczyk, said that “we cannot afford to maintain free motorways indefinitely, tolls will be gradually introduced on subsequent sections”. The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways told the portal money.pl data, which shows that in 2022, the maintenance of motorways and expressways cost PLN 605.8 million. In 2023, it was PLN 911.8 million, and in 2024, maintenance is to cost over PLN 1.1 billion.
Is the current government planning to introduce fees for passenger cars and generally for vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes? – The expansion of the network of roads on which tolls are collected, planned for the end of this year, applies only to vehicles with a permissible total weight of over 3.5 tonnes, i.e. trucks and buses. I would like to emphasize that it does not apply to passenger cars and motorcycles and there are no plans to subject them to fees on roads managed by the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways – explained to the service Anna Szumańska, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Infrastructure.
The new fees are criticized by the transport industry
The transport industry is not happy with the plans to impose additional fees. – The government's proposal for some TSL sector entrepreneurs was quite surprising. We expected that the government would understand that this is not the time for additional taxes and obligations for the industry, which is struggling to stay afloat. We accept the proposals of the Ministry of Infrastructure with great concern – commented Hanna Mojsiuk, president of the Northern Chamber of Commerce in Szczecin, quoted in the announcement.
In turn, Jerzy Gębski from the Polish Chamber of Forwarding and Logistics even spoke of a “collapse” in the industry. – This is confirmed by the fact that more and more road transport companies are reporting restructuring. However, we do not know the scale of this phenomenon, because we do not know how many of the small carriers – and there are most of them (owning 5 to 7 vehicles) – have problems with financial liquidity and, due to the lack of continuity of orders, have put their vehicles “under the fence” – he emphasized.