Commenting on an electronic road-toll system that should be launched in Slovakia on January 1, 2010, Transport Minister Ľubomír Vážny said at a press conference in Bratislava on January 20 that the winner of the tender for the contract would lose approximately €265 million if it fails to meet the implementation deadline.
He said that there would also be additional sanctions in such an event, but he did not specify what these would be, the TASR newswire wrote.
The Santoll-Ibertax consortium, which won the tender, signed the contract with the ministry on January 13. It is set to operate the toll system for 13 years as of January 1, 2010, with the ministry paying the company approximately €863 million.
The consortium has to carry out an operational test of the toll system concept within three weeks of signing the contract to convince the ministry that it is actually able to introduce it.
The National Highway Company (NDS) wants to collect €165.97-199.16 million in toll charges during the first year of the new system. Part of the charges collected will be used for maintaining highways, while the rest will be paid in instalments to the toll-system operator. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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