Central government off the hook for Alicante-Torrevieja-Cartagena motorway compensation

THE central government will not have to compensate the Alicante-Torrevieja-Cartagena motorway concessionary for loss of income during the pandemic.

The Supreme Court rejected Ausur’s appeal for reparation amid claims that government restrictions introduced to fight the Covid crisis had directly affected earnings.

Even when the first and most stringent State of Alarm was lifted, travel was still restricted between Spain’s autonomous regions, hence Ausur’s request for an eight-month extension to run the motorway in compensation for losses of €3 million.

Ausur argued that as several articles in the second State of Alarm decree were later pronounced unconstitutional, this amounted to discrimination against toll roads.

When the central government ignored Ausur’s first complaints, the concessionary launched another appeal in February 2021.

In June 2022, a Cabinet meeting rejected this latest compensation request, after which the Supreme Court offered Ausur the chance to expand the scope of its claim, an offer it has turned down, according the provincial Spanish media.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.