According to Antonio Romalho – president of the National Road Authority – the current system requires 43 million Euro to maintain, thus absorbing a whopping 29% of the tolls’ value charged to drivers, and it’s 4% of the company’s expenses.

While at a press conference to present the company’s results, he added that they are working on a new model alongside the Via Verde with road operator Ascendi in order to cut costs to around 10 to 15% of the company’s revenue.

According to the Portuguese business newspaper Dinheiro Vivo, the new system will work like the one currently used on large motorways and is due to be implemented in 2014.

The new system is being tested on the A23 – connecting Torres Novas to Guarda – in order to test its various features. The new system is being described as being simpler, and will feature toll gates with only one camera, because the vehicles will cross the gate at slower speeds.

The new gates will be installed in every entrance or exit of the road in question, and this means that all road accesses which are currently free will become paid in the future, and that the 77 toll gates will be replaced by newer ones.

According to the same newspaper one of the solutions is to make the electronic devices – similar to Via Verde – mandatory in every vehicle. This sounds like a tall order but when you consider that the government said they will this in their talks with Troika, there doesn’t seem to be any way back from it.

Sergio Monteiro – the Secretary of State of Public Works – while refusing to make a comment on the matter did say that the new system will lower the tolls because the same amount from the first to the last kilometer will be charged, which doesn’t happen with the current system.

Why has this not happened sooner? Well the protest was sparked by the decision of the Portuguese Government to not extend the exemption granted to residents beyond the end of September, even if by all accounts the tourism sector was on the whole expecting it.

Eliderico Viegas, a major representative of the Algarve tourism sector said that when it comes to these tolls there should be no discrimination between residents of the Algarve and those visiting, so they tolls should be suspended completely; further stating that the introduction of the tolls has shown to be an anti-tourism decision and thus against the interests of the entire region.

He backed up these claims by pointing out the fifty percent reduction in traffic on the A22 highway and a whopping twenty percent drop in the number of tourists coming from Spain, saying that these were enough reasons to eliminate the tolls immediately. The Algarve car rental industry and Faro airport transfers services has seen some problems as well.

Antonio Pina, the President of the Algarve Tourism Board, said that he too wasn’t surprised by the Government’s decision but also mentioned that it does threaten to be the ‘blow that would sink the Tourism Algarve ship’, pretty strong words indeed.

He continued to say that there is an urgent need to completely suspend the A22 tolls as well as oppose any and all attempt by the Government to either extend or withdraw any exemption for residents because this is an unacceptable discriminatory policy.

Will the 1^st of October protest combined with these harsh words from leading figures in the Algarve tourism sector sway the Government in any way? We have no way of knowing that, we’ll just keep an eye on what happens in the future of A22 toll and report on it.