SkyToll, a company set up by members of the Ibertax-SanToll consortium, which won the tender for an electronic road toll collection system in Slovakia, will sign a contract with Norwegian firm Q-FREE ASA to provide the main system, along with an enforcement system and three years of comprehensive road toll collection services, SkyToll's spokesperson Eva Guttlerová told the TASR newswire. Q-FREE will begin providing the services immediately after signing the contract. The system will be set up in 2009, and Q-FREE will service and maintain it over the next three years.
Slovakia's electronic toll collection system will be unique because, in addition to tolls on motorways, it will also cover a large number of A-class roads. A satellite system based on GPS-GSM technology which should provide maximum flexibility in dealing with an increase in freight transport on highways and expansion of the road network expected over the next few years.
The Transport Ministry signed the contract with Ibertax-SanToll on January 13. It is set to receive around €863 million (Sk26 billion) for building and operating a satellite toll collection system beginning in January 2010 over a period of 13 years. The National Highway Company (NDS) expects to collect between €166-199 million in road tolls in the first year after the system is launched. Part of this amount will be used for investments in road infrastructure, while the rest will be paid to the toll system provider. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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