Highway Payment System Is Postponed Due To Works Delay

The government postponed the adoption of the payment system in the East-West Highway to the beginning of 2018, due to the funding problems and the receipt of equipment for this system that will be adopted across 48 payment stations, as it decided in dispensing entirely from foreigners in the completion of the highways’ completion, and abandon the international tenders and compensate them with internal tenders, to ensure the national priority over foreign companies, and review the book of conditions for granting public works sector projects that raise a lot of controversy.

Echorouk sources at the Committee of Housing, Processing, Irrigation and Urban Configuration at the National People’s Council, said the Minister of Public Works, Abdelkader Wali, said during a hearing session for the sector, that he ruled out ending the program of highway processing early next year, as it was planned to happen earlier, and said that the payment system for the facility was postponed to the beginning of 2018, telling the deputies that there are problems in the financing and reception of equipment that is necessary for the processing of payment terminals, avoiding to provide false information or theatrical and unattainable deadlines, from the door that the file cannot support manipulation or political use for several reasons, because the highway really need to exploit revenues, to ensure the economic performance of the system and maintenance.

Same sources said the presentation that was made by the minister by last weekend includes many axes, as he talked about the details of the program of the highway, which a part of it remains uncompleted, as the minister described the program as compatible with international standards, as it was decided the completion of 48 payment stations through transformers, 7 road stations, 22 maintenance and exploitation centers, 67 rest stations, 43 service stations, as well as the completion of 1,412 call centers for road users and dial-up services in case of any emergency, as the program will also includes 154 stations to provide the radio services inadvertently to notify users of the status of the road and guide them in cases of necessity.