Private road tolls are like Klondike gold
I can accept that the completion of our motorway network is predicated on funding raised through tolls. I cannot accept that funds raised by tolls are not ringfenced to build and maintain roads.
The M50 has already yielded tolls many times over the building costs and still there’s no immediate end in sight.
I can see how public/private partnerships may be a way of raising initial funds sooner.
I cannot see how they can be allowed to have uncapped, indefinite returns at a rate that Klondike gold prospectors would not have dreamt of.
The authorities try to convince us they could never have realised how popular the M50 would become. Could they not have looked at London’s M25 as an equivalent example?
The private end of the public/private enterprises is indeed very private.
Who are they? Who selects them (I’d imagine there is a queue)? Should we be concerned if any of them has ever made any kind of political donation.
If the national pension fund is looking for solid investment opportunities, why shouldn’t they participate in this?
With my SSIA about to mature, the next gravytrain I want to get on is this public/private toll road lark.
How do I go about it?
Michael Lynch
29 Avora Park
Howth
Co Dublin.
