A procedural flaw in the Toulouse-Castres motorway project?
The Transport Regulatory Authority ensures that it was not consulted by the State before examining the widening of the A680 ramp, which will eventually provide the link between the A68 motorways (Toulouse-Marssac-sur-Tarn) and A69 (Toulouse-Castres) at a cost of 80 million euros. She points to a procedural flaw.
New adventures in the Toulouse-Castres motorway construction project. L’transport regulatory authority (ART), which oversees the proper functioning of competitive activities and transport tariffs in France, alleges a procedural defect in a file concerning the creation of the future road axis.
Indeed, she believes thatit should have been consulted before signing an amendment to the concession contract concluded (early October) between the State and Autoroutes du Sud de la France (ASF). This concerns the widening of the A680 ramp which, in the long term, will make it possible to restore the A68 motorway (Toulouse-Marssac-sur-Tarn) and the future A69 (Toulouse-Castres), “whose cost seems to exceed 80 million euros”, emphasizes ART.
This decision could have increased the price of the toll
This widening of the ramp should be financed by “financial industries”, in other words “amounts constituted in the event of delay or abandonment of certain operations, compensated by toll receipts”, explains the ART. But in the absence of these “undus”, the works should be financed by an increase the toll price. And “as part of its mission to ensure the proper functioning of the toll tariff system, ART must be consulted for advice on any modification of an existing contract as soon as it has an impact on toll rates or the duration of the concession”, insists the Authority.
Moreover, the ART adds that it should have been able to ensure that this investment was not already provided for in the contract (which it suspects), and that the State was able to correctly negotiate the costs. Consequently, “the absence of consultation of the ART constitutes a procedural defect likely to taint the decree approving the amendment with illegality”, slices the Authority.