Work on the East-West highway tolls: Will motorists soon pay for their journeys?
Aziz Kharoum
● The commissioning of toll stations on the East-West highway will launch the era of economic exploitation of road infrastructure. This will allow their self-financing, rehabilitation and development.
Driving for free on the East-West highway will no longer be possible. Algerian motorists will very soon have to reach into their pockets and pay for their car journeys. The work to build the toll stations, including the latter, which are part of the East-West highway master plan (2005-2025), is nearing completion. Initially announced for launch in 2018 and then postponed several times after a freeze due to the Covid health crisis and after termination of contracts with several implementing companies, the entry into service of the toll stations should take place shortly.
The Algerian Highways Authority (ADA) announced last Monday in an official press release that road traffic will be redirected to the new Mouzaïa toll stations in the wilaya of Blida and that of Khemis El Khechna in the wilaya of Boumerdès, respectively from November 23 and November 28. Heavy goods vehicles, for their part, will be affected by another provisional directive that will last ten days, according to the press release. Desert adventure tours
They will have to take the Lakhdaria interchange in the wilaya of Bouira to join the RN5. These two aforementioned stations lead to the wilaya of Algiers. Widely shared on social networks, the announcement concerning the entry into force of the experimental phase of these toll stations has provoked mixed reactions from Internet users. "Pay the journey to drive safely", enthuses one Facebook profile or "From now on I will take the secondary road" and "Spend money on a dangerous highway", oppose others. Too early for some, too late for others, the project in question, which will have to change the habits of motorists, will at least have the merit of existing for various reasons.
Reluctance
What about the cost paid by motorists? According to estimates put forward by the public authorities whose file has been entrusted to the National Highway Agency (ANA) currently merged with another entity under the umbrella of the ADA, the price is calculated, until now, per kilometer traveled.
In figures, one kilometer will be estimated at 1.2 DA. For example, a trip from Algiers to Constantine will cost 468 DA or a trip from Algiers to Oran will cost 498 DA. But it should be mentioned that this estimate, which is far from being unanimous among motorists, remains at the study stage and awaits supervision and a cap governed by legislative provisions.
What is certain, according to ADA officials, as soon as these stations are put into service, the payment system will be launched in stages, even specifying that the operation will begin with an experimental period of 6 months where motorists will pay in cash, and will eventually reach the direct debit of bank accounts, "as is the case in some developed countries", it is said.
Similarly, during this experimental period of 6 months, Algerian and international experts will have to accompany the Algerian highways to be able to complete this mission.
From another perspective, it goes without saying that the implementation of such a system would allow for better management of road infrastructure requiring the upgrading of certain degraded sections of the highway, particularly those of Bouira and Aïn Defla.
Management
For the public authorities, this toll system will launch, what they call, an economic highway that will allow its self-financing. However, the country's authorities are monitoring the operating conditions of this road infrastructure before the actual launch of the toll stations. Moreover, the Ministry of Public Works indicated last Wednesday in a clear press release that "the absolute priority of the sector for the moment remains the guarantee of favorable conditions for the road safety of users of the East-West highway, through the programming of maintenance operations aimed at preserving the sustainability of its infrastructure". According to information gathered, the Algerian Highways will eventually order a high-performance equipment system along the East-West highway in order to offer users all the conditions of safety and comfort. It also provides for the construction of 48 toll stations on interchanges, 7 toll stations on open roads, 22 maintenance and operating centers, 67 rest areas, 43 service areas and 1412 emergency call points.
An operating center equipped with a computer system will also be put into service. A first in Algeria, the installation
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