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Second phase of e-toll delayed

Ministry to expand coverage on motorways in new tender process

By Paul Voosen
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 6th, 2007 issue

The second phase of the electronic tolling system will be delayed a year and a half and will require a new tender process, the Transportation Ministry announced June 4.
The tender is required because the ministry wants to change the technology used for the second phase, which will toll regional highways, from a microwave- to a more efficient satellite-based system.
The tender is expected in late summer, with the second phase slated to begin by Jan. 1, 2009. The phase had previously been scheduled to start July 1 of this year.
“We decided to have the tender on the basis of long discussions with experts and [the contractor], Kapsch,” said Karel Hanzelka, Transportation Ministry spokesman. “The tender itself is not a certainty. It all depends on expert studies, which will be ready by the end of June.”
Regional governors have pushed for the expansion of the e-toll system, concerned that tolling on motorways is pushing traffic onto secondary roads.
The next phase will also increase the range of vehicles tolled, with every car, bus or truck weighing more than 3.5 metric tons (3.9 short tons) paying for use of the road, Transportation Minister Aleš Řebíček told reporters. Currently, tolls are collected from vehicles weighing more than 12 metric tons.
The new tender became a necessity after the Anti-Monopoly Office (ÚOHS) rejected last month a proposed amendment to the contract signed between the ministry and Kapsch, the Austrian firm that built the first phase of the e-toll system. The contract would have seen Kapsch implement a hybrid system using satellite and microwave.
Kapsch’s original contract calls for the firm to construct e-tolls on 1,100 kilometers (684 miles) of regional highways, in addition to the 980 kilometers of motorways covered in the first phase.
The ministry and Kapsch have proposed a reworking of the contract that will see the microwave system expanded to cover 2,000 kilometers of motorways, with regional highways then covered under the new tender. The financials of the deal will remain the same.
“The contract will be fulfilled in terms of volume; only the deadline will change. The change will be anchored in an amendment to the contract,” Řebíček said.
The ÚOHS is currently reviewing the draft amendment, he added.
Kapsch joined the ministry in announcing the changes, while saying it would also bid in the tender.
“The contract enables amendments including changes to deadline. We are ready for a flexible reaction,” said Karel Feix, CEO of Kapsch CR.
Revenue from the toll’s first phase, which came online in January, has topped 2.3 billion Kč ($109.1 million) since it began.
— Hela Balínová contributed to this report.

Paul Voosen can be reached at pvoosen@praguepost.com


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