The SAO audited funds spent on construction and operating of the toll roads system
Press Release – April 10, 2012
The aim of the audit operation was to scrutinize the processes of preparation and realization of the toll roads system, assess whether efficient and economical ways of the funds’ allocation had been developed, and to perform an evaluation of the achieved goals.
The auditors scrutinized the planning and organisation of the toll roads system, technical and economical parameters and terms determined within the investment intent, the request of proposals for the public procurement of the project’s realization, and the contract relations.
By the end of September 2011, the preparation and realization of the toll collecting system on selected roads cost more than CZK 16.4 milliard. The audit report compared detailed data on expenses of introducing the toll roads system in the Czech Republic with expenses of the satellite technology used in Germany and of the micro-wave technology used in Austria. The auditors concluded that the Czech toll roads system was more expensive than both the systems in the compared countries.
On the average, the annual costs of the system’s functioning reached over CZK 1.5 milliard. The average outcomes of the system were CZK 5.7 milliard a year.
The request of proposals discriminated against the possible providers who opted for the satellite technology as it imposed a condition that road tolls should be paid by transponders mounted in the vehicles. Such a condition favoured the micro-wave technology and jeopardized the declared technological neutrality of the request of proposals. It was not possible to compare tenders who would offer various technologies because there were only contenders offering the micro-wave technology.
The request of proposals called for an opened system so that various suppliers could be contracted. The Road and Motorway Directorate called for some tenders without issuing the information notice and explained that only the system’s supplier could provide the subject defined within the clauses. Such procedures contradict with the former intent to develop an opened system.
With the amendment No. 3 to the contract, the Ministry of Transport only decided for toll collection on highways and not on main roads, which were in the original plan too. This change to the strategy complied more with the micro-wave technology. Implementation of the micro-wave technology made it impossible to realize the former concept of the Ministry of Transport, which had originally planned to build a system of 2.995 kilometres of toll highways and main roads.
Within the period 2007–2011, the economical parameters (e. g. the cost effectiveness) did not approximate to those previously defined in the investment intent. The actual costs and other economic parameters of procuring the toll roads system cannot be objectively assessed before 2017, when the agreement with the supplier will have expired. The chosen solution seems to raise higher costs than originally calculated.
By the end of 2011, the Ministry of Transport was obliged to make a decision on the system’s functioning after 2016 but it failed to do so. The existing system’s enlargement has not been resolved either. As the agreement on operation of the toll collection system expires in the end of 2016, it is necessary to decide on the system’s operation after the date and its future enlargement possibilities. At the same time, it is essential to evaluate the experience and to avoid the shortcomings, which have been described in the audit report.
The audit operation was performed from May 2011 to January 2012. The audited period was from 2003 to September 2011. Among the audited bodies were: the Ministry of Transport, the State Fund of Transport Infrastructure, and the Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic. The auditing operation was included into 2011 Audit Plan of the SAO under No. 11/13. Karel Sehoř, Member of the SAO Board, managed the audit operation and prepared the audit report as well.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office