Triple discrimination: calls for AP-7 toll to be suspended

Spain’s political party, Partido Popular (PP) has proposed suspending the AP-7 toll until there is a train on the coast as far as Estepona.

They claim that a province like Malaga, which leads the population growth at a national level, cannot afford to have Marbella, the only city in the country with more than 100,000 inhabitants, without a train service,

The PP also talks of the “triple discrimination” suffered by the municipalities of the Costa del Sol without local trains, including: Mijas, Estepona and Manilva.

They say that triple discrimination is suffered by residents and visitors to the municipalities of the Costa del Sol, who are penalised with no train and whose only option is to use the road, they are also forced to pay tolls on many occasions due to traffic congestion along the coast of Málaga, and because they are also excluded from the free tickets for the Cercanías local trains in the areas it serves.

In response to the statements made by the Junta Vice-President ,María Jesús Montero, in which she rejected the removal of the AP-7 toll, José Ramón Carmona, secretary general of the PP in Málaga, said that there are reasons that fully justify the temporary suspension of the toll on the AP-7, which is why he has asked her to explain the reasons she gives for refusing to do so.

The AP-7 toll is the the most expensive in Spain and, “while Catalonia is given €6,000 million for its Cercanías network and Galicia is given a 75 per cent toll rebate, Malaga is denied the Costa del Sol train, when it is essential for the connectivity and mobility of this area, one of the fastest growing in the next decade in Spain”, said Carmona.

According to INE data, Estepona, Marbella and Benalmádena lead the way in population growth in Spain, with official projections indicating that the province will gain more than 300,000 new inhabitants by 2035.

Which is why Carmona has demanded the temporary suspension of the AP-7 toll, “until there is a high-capacity sustainable means of transport connecting the western Costa del Sol”.