From the beginning of next year, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works intends to reduce the price of the vignette for cars. This was stated in “The Day Begins” by Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Yavor Penchev.
However, the regional ministry will not give in to the request of the carriers not to expand the scope of the toll system for heavy goods traffic, Penchev was categorical. He explained that the national road network consists of about 20,000 km. roads, of which only 3115 km. are paid for trucks.
At the same time, car owners pay a fee whether they drive on a highway, a second-class or even a third-class road. Thus, currently two thirds of the income from vignettes comes from cars, which depreciate the roads less, and only one third – from heavy traffic.
“We will not succumb to the pressure, because it would be extremely unfair to the whole of Bulgaria. You understand that there is no logic in the existence of the toll system if it does not collect money from users who pollute the most. So, as far as the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works , there will be no such postponement, the final decision will be made by the Council of Ministers.
According to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the expansion of the scope of the toll system for heavy traffic will not make transportation very expensive. Yavor Penchev gave an example that with the new taxes the transportation of 16 loaves or 10 kg. cheese costs an average of 1 cent, and the bus ticket – 11 cents.
The Council of Ministers will work on the request for carriers for measures against expensive fuels, as far as it is permissible in the European legislation, he added.
At the end of last week, the signing of the first agreements for road repairs in our country began. It is still unclear how long the reconstruction of the Echemishka tunnel on the Hemus Motorway will take, because both the adjacent viaduct and the bypass for heavy traffic are in urgent need of repair.
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