First no-toll motorway stretches will cost EUR 44 mln, PM says

Freeing the first stretches of Poland's state-owned motorways from toll under a planned new law will cost around PLN 200 million (EUR 44 mln), Poland's prime minister said on Saturday.

The cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill abolishing tolls for passenger vehicles on state-owned motorways.

Mateusz Morawiecki, visiting a seniors' club in southeastern Poland on Saturday, said that from July 1 two first sections of motorways managed by the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways will be exempted from tolls which will "cost the state budget PLN 200 million or maybe a little more depending on on traffic analyses.

He added that lifting tolls on subsequent motorway stretches will cost a further several hundred million zlotys.

Asked about prospects for lifting tolls on privately-administrated motorways, Morawiecki said talks in the matter with the administrators were planned within the next 6-12 months.

He said the talks could be "difficult," but were necessary as his government wanted Poland's roads to be accessible to all and possibly cost-free.