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INPRIMATU
The Government of Navarra will postpone the payment of the Highway of the Camino from 2027 to 2030
  • Until then, the Government of Navarre will have to pay EUR 477 million to Abertis, a motorway operator in 2023 for EUR 110 million.
Xabier Letona Biteri @xletona 2024ko abuztuaren 23a
Argazkia: X. Letona / ARGIA CC BY-SA

La Autovía del Camino connects Pamplona with Logroño, starting its construction in 2002 and completed in 2006. Since then it has had four owners, and as it was built in the formula of the extinguished prize, the Government of Navarra pays an amount each year to the owner of the concession.

According to the new payment plan, in 2024 the foral government will pay EUR 57 million, in 2025 62 million and almost 66 million in 2025. Does not specify the payments for the following years, but does the total amount to be paid: EUR 291 million.

Using the shaded formula, the construction costs of the infrastructure are borne by the construction companies and the Government of Navarra pays a fee to the companies each year. In fact, the Highway of the Camino payment was due to end in 2032, but the foral government decided to depreciate it in 2027. Finally, this date will be postponed until 2030.

These data are contained in the report of the general accounts of the Government of Navarra last year, which has released Diario de Noticias. According to the report, the delay is due to the decrease in traffic on the motorway in Gipuzkoa. Traffic forecasts began to deteriorate during the long crisis of 2008; in 2010 data decreased and did not increase until the 2015-2019 period, when the economy also grew.

It is said that motorway traffic is also a measure of economic development, and in this case at least it is being complied with. At the time of the pandemic, traffic was lower than ever and has recovered a little later, but never reached the 2008 figures.

The Chamber of Comptes of Navarre has closely followed the infrastructure to build through shadow tolls and concluded that the Government of Navarre will pay much more expensive than construction. According to the data provided by the House, the cost of the construction of the Highway of the Camino amounted to EUR 389.9 million and the final cost was EUR 597 million. Similarly with the Pyrenees Motorway: It cost 271.4 million euros and by 2039 the foral government will pay 553.8 million.