A new system for collecting toll fees is coming into service in 2013 along the Brest-Minsk M1/E30, the Minsk-Mogilev M4 and the Minsk-Gomel M5 roads. “From next July, after completing the first phase of the new project, tolls will be charged via an electronic system on the M1/E30,” explains Alexander Golovnev, who heads the Road Maintenance Office for Belavtodor at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. “The road already has a toll, collected by hand before a lowered barrier,” he notes. The M4 is also to receive the automated system, as will some parts of the M5.
Mr. Golovnev notes that the national electronic system for collecting tolls in Belarus is being implemented in three phases, finally covering all Belarusian first category roads (connecting regional centres with Minsk). The first stage is scheduled to be ready for next July, with the second launched in January 2014; the third will be complete by January 2015.
Total investments are to reach over 260m Euros, explains Mr. Golovnev, with companies’ own funds and bank loans used. The system should pay for itself within three years of completion. The construction company will keep 20 percent of the toll.
“At present there is no specific toll rate, so a regulatory system for payments is being developed,” notes Mr. Golovnev. Preliminarily, a fare of 12 Euro cents per kilometre is being considered for the heaviest trucks on Belarusian roads.
As previously reported, in early 2012, the Ministry of Transport of Belarus and the Austrian company Kapsch TrafficCom AG signed an investment agreement to provide toll coverage along about 3,000km of Belarusian roads. All equipment installed will eventually become the property of Belarus.
