Parliament rejects truck toll on national roads
For the time being, there will be no truck toll on state and municipal roads in Saxony-Anhalt. The state parliament rejected a corresponding motion by the opposition Greens by a large majority on Friday. The toll was to be introduced in the same way as the existing toll on federal highways and freeways. It was a matter of applying the polluter-pays principle to all roads, said parliamentary group leader Cornelia Lüddemann.
According to the Greens, the revenue should be used to maintain and renovate the roads. However, it was also a matter of getting more goods onto the railways overall, said Lüddemann.
Saxony-Anhalt's Infrastructure Minister Lydia Hüskens (FDP) rejected the proposal. She fears that transport and logistics companies will be overly burdened and that prices for end consumers will rise due to the increase in transport costs. "The companies always have to earn these costs, which means that they are passed on, the costs," said the FDP politician.
The CDU also sharply criticized the Greens. Transport spokesman Detlef Gürth accused them of "denying reality" and warned of an increase in the cost of goods and services. Falko Grube (SPD) said that it was right that infrastructure should always be financed from tax revenue. This should be no different for roads. "We are out of it," said Grube.
Despite the rejection of the truck toll, significant traffic congestion persists on Saxony-Anhalt's roads due to the high volume of goods transportation. Parliamentary discussions about introducing congestion charges to alleviate this issue continue to emerge within the legislative body.
Source: www.dpa.com
