Riyadh, Oct 1 (Arab News): The Kingdom is planning to impose tolls on new roads to be built by the private sector in the future, but will not be charging tolls for use of existing roads.

The Ministry of Transportation’s spokesman and director of marketing and communications said on Thursday that fees will not be charged on existing roads. He said the ministry has taken it upon itself to work with other bodies to increase non-oil revenues, and improve and develop infrastructure without denting the state budget.
Such revenue generation objectives fall under the ministry’s initiatives in support of the National Transformation Plan 2020. Initiatives include studying how to achieve revenues from road assets, and improving life cycle costs. Studies are currently underway by specialists and specialized consulting firms to conduct market surveys and help achieve sustainability in the quality of services provided.

“While fees will not be imposed on existing roads, a projected first stage will see the imposition of tolls on alternative routes or new roads to be built by the private sector in the future,” he said.

He said the collection of tolls for use of roads is a common case in the majority of countries, and takes into account the greater public good without overburdening drivers. The fees will be so that they do not adversely affect the economy of transportation but still help achieve the purpose of the application, which is to develop road services and make them more valuable to users.

Such fees will also provide additional financial resources to be used for raising the quality and performance of roads, as well as for equipping roads with advanced and modern services that will make them more attractive to users, not to mention the development of new roads with revenue surpluses from these fees.

He said the application of such fees will be done only after the ministry coordinates with relevant authorities and completes its studies.