The parliament approved on Wednesday a proposal by the PS to exempt tolls on two sections of the A2 and A6 motorways in the Alentejo region.
The exemption applies only to residents and companies with headquarters in specific “areas of influence” of the two highways. In the case of the A2, which crosses the Beja district, the measure will be effective between the A2/A6/A13 junction and Almodôvar.
António José Brito, president of the Comunidade Intermunicipal do Baixo Alentejo (CIMBAL), based in Beja and comprising 13 out of the 14 municipalities of the district (with Odemira integrated into another intermunicipal community), described the measure as “positive for local people and businesses” in statements to agency Lusa.
However, the mayor of Castro Verde emphasized that “alone, the measure may not have the desired effect on the region’s economy.”
The Baixo Alentejo “needs more as a low-density territory, where there must be more public investment in essential infrastructure,” he argued.
As “clear examples” of infrastructure needing investment, the CIMBAL president pointed to the “integration of Beja into the highway network or the urgent electrification of the railway.”
According to António José Brito, “progress in these infrastructures will be crucial for the affirmation, once and for all, of Beja Airport.”
The same opinion was shared by David Simão, president of NERBE/AEBAL — Associação Empresarial do Baixo Alentejo e Litoral, who admitted today to Lusa that what “would indeed have more impact” on the local economy would be “the construction of the motorway access to Beja.”
“It would be really important to carry out the construction of the 40 kilometers of motorway that are missing, so that we can genuinely have the same conditions that other parts of the country have,” he stated.
Even so, David Simão agreed that the toll exemption for residents and companies is a “positive” and “essential” measure.
“We welcome this measure and believe it could have a positive effect on companies’ commercial activities, by reducing the costs of their products and improving access to these roads,” he noted.
The official recalled that in the Beja district, “there are companies that, to lower the cost of transporting their goods, end up using secondary roads.”
Therefore, he concluded, the toll exemption “is a positive and essential measure.”
The toll exemption will operate “through the use of an electronic device associated with the vehicle’s registration.”
To determine who can benefit from the exemption, the legislation defines that the areas of influence encompass, in the case of the A6, “the territory covered by the NUTS III of Alto Alentejo and Alentejo Central” and for the A2, “the territory covered by the NUTS III of Baixo Alentejo and Alentejo Litoral.”
The draft Budget Law for 2026 was approved on Thursday in a final global vote with support from the two parties backing the Government, PSD and CDS-PP, and with abstention from the PS.
The remaining parties (Chega, IL, Livre, PCP, BE, PAN, and JPP) voted against.
