In San Caetano, they do not intend to forget the broken promises of the socialists. During the campaign for the last regional elections, the PSdeG candidate, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, promised that with him as president of the Xunta, the AP-9 motorway, the main motorway in Galicia, would be free. The Galician PSOE crashed at the polls of the 18F, those words were carried away by the wind – would Sánchez agree to transfer it and make it free only if Besteiro were president – and since then, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has been sailing in a sea of excuses: “If someone advances the 6 billion that it costs, no problem”, he said during a recent visit to Galicia. But the Xunta rose up this Thursday to refute him. According to a report commissioned by the Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure Planning, The rescue of the AP-9 would cost the public treasury a maximum of 2.355 million euros. That’s less than half of Puente’s figure.
The report, prepared by the Eptisa consultancy, was presented at a press conference by the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Planning, María Martínez Allegue, and the director of the Galician Infrastructure Agency, Francisco Menéndez, accompanied by the director of the project. the company that carried out the study, Marcos Maderuelo. The report addresses two issues that are on the table: the transfer of ownership of the state highway to the Xunta and, on the other hand, the rescue of the infrastructure. That is to say, by withdrawing from Audasa the road concession, which the government of José María Aznar extended until 2048.
Regarding the transfer, according to this study, the passage of the property from the State to the Xunta would be free. But that does not mean that it does not entail expenses. On the one hand, it would be necessary to count on the payment of an additional cost of just over 526 million euros from the extension of bonuses which is considering the AP9 transfer law, which is still under review in Congress. These are bonuses that would benefit recurring users, heavy goods vehicles, large families and night users. To these 526 million euros, we must add the 1.149 million in current bonuses, which are already scheduled to be paid until the end of the Audasa concession in 2048.
These current bonuses concern round trips, the state’s assumption of part of the increases and tolls in the shadow of Rande and Barcala. Thus, in total, still according to the calculations of the Eptisa report, The total cost of the transfer would be 1.676 million if bonuses are included.
On the other hand, saving the motorway would mean a sum for the public coffers which would be between 1.612 million euros and a maximum of 2.355 million, still according to the report presented by the Xunta. The dance of numbers is due to the fact that the report does not establish exactly the amount that the State should pay Audasa as compensation.
In any case, even in the upper range, the cost would be much lower than the calculations of the Sánchez government. Questioned several times, the Minister of Transport has proposed disparate figures; the last one, around 6 billion.
