Minister Bitar: Highway concessionaries claim it is risky to use TAG on inter-city routes

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SANTIAGO.- While stressing that the inter-city highway concessionaries are aware that they must comply with their promise to make toll payments go faster in order to prevent traffic jams, the Minister of Public Works, Sergio Bitar, stated that the corporations have warned of the financial risk involved with establishing an automatic TAG payment system.

"They say that have complied, but that if they install TAG there is a risk, and that is that today they receive the money right away as travellers pass through the tolls, with the automatic system consumers would pay at the end of the month and some wouldn't pay at all", asserted the minister.

Bitar stated that the installation of an automatic TAG toll payment system along inter-city highways "has been difficult to implement", but indicated that a meeting was held last week among representatives where he "demanded that they go through with it".

With regards to the financial risk posed to highway concessionaries by the automatic TAG system due to late payments made by users, the minister maintained that the companies "want the government to pay for the risk and that is what they are proposing, but the government is not going to spend money on that".