Michaël Reul, secretary-general of professional federation UPTR, hopes Flanders and Wallonia will work on clean motorway parking and sanitation by 2024 with revenue from the kilometre charge. “With the start of the new year comes good intentions,” he said.
Reul hopes Flanders and Wallonia will make work of clean motorway car parks and sanitary facilities with revenue from road pricing in 2024. “At the start of the new year belong good intentions,” he said.
“It is an excellent custom to make your wishes during the month of January. It is also customary to set oneself good intentions. In 2023, it will not have escaped users of Walloon highways that road manager Sofico has invested massively in a media campaign around waste sorting.”
“Besides its good wishes for the new year, UPTR proposes as a good intention to those in charge of Sofico to pay more attention to those who contribute the most to the financing of Wallonia’s road and water infrastructure. In 2022, hauliers paid 275 million euros to use the Walloon road network. With the scandalous price increase on top of indexation imposed on hauliers, they will have to pay as much as €320 million in 2023.”
At least in Wallonia there is the certainty that the money will be invested in mobility, unlike in Flanders
“The kilometre charge accounts for almost 75% of Sofico’s revenue. Road lighting, security, crash barriers, car parks, waste disposal, noise insulation panels and so on benefit all road users. However, it should be said that in Wallonia at least one can be sure that this money is invested in mobility, unlike in Flanders where it disappears into the general pot. The kilometre charge accounted for €544 million in Flanders in 2022. This makes the expansion of the road network subject to the kilometre charge by 686 kilometres in Flanders all the worse. This while the condition of car parks and sanitary facilities in Flanders can be called as bad as in Wallonia.”
“UPTR, in consultation with its sister federations and the trade unions, has already called for the parking issue to be made a priority. Safety, convenience and health are clearly concepts that both Lydia Peeters and her Walloon counterpart should include in their good intentions as part of the 2024 investments. Happy New Year and good sanitary health to every road user.”
Michaël Reul, secretary-general of professional federation UPTR
