Toll system: Nearly a third of the money spent on building and operating costs

Press release for audit No. 17/10 - 8. 1. 2018


The Supreme Audit Office examined how the Ministry of Transport and the Road and Motorway Directorate had built and operated an electronic toll system by 2017. This system is intended for the toll collection on selected Czech roads and motorways. Auditors examined what the building and operation costs were, the results brought by toll introduction, but also whether the Ministry ensured the cost-effective collection of toll in future. The audit showed that the costs of toll collection compared to revenues were high between 2007 and 2016. The Ministry also often changed the method of collecting toll after 2016, mainly due to the lack of a coherent and conceptual approach. Its absence is also one of the reasons for the high costs of the system.

Between 2007 and 2016, the total costs of building and operating the toll system amounted to more than CZK 24 billion and CZK 78.5 billion the Ministry collected on the toll. The average total costs of the toll system were about 31 percent - which meant that collection of toll amounting to CZK 100 thousand cost CZK 31 thousand. In the SAO´s opinion, this is a high value. The average operating costs for the whole period – i.e., without taking into account the costs of building the toll infrastructure - were 24 per cent. For comparison, the SAO's previous audit of toll system (audit No. 11/13) showed that in Austria, which used a technology similar to the Czech Republic, it was only 12 per cent.

The total costs associated with the toll system were also influenced by lack of clarity and by frequent changes in the method and extent of toll collection. For example, the Ministry spent over CZK 770 million in 2008 on the satellite interface for charging A-class to C-class roads which were never used for the toll collection. The Ministry eliminated part of the acquired technology worth of CZK 189 million without utilisation. Another result of the unclear solution and frequent changes is the late introduction of the European Electronic Toll Service1 worth of CZK 372 million. It should have operated by 2012 at the latest. However, the Ministry started to deal with this service one year after this deadline and eventually introduced it with a five-year delay in 2017.

Frequent changes in the possible solution of toll collection also influenced the choice of the system supplier after 2016. The Ministry changed the options of the collection method even in 2016 when the contract with the existing supplier was about to end and none of the possible solutions emerged from the comprehensive concept and objective analysis of the options. In addition, the Ministry started to deal with dependence on one supplier late (in 2015), which the SAO already drew attention to in the audit No. 11/13. It all led to the extension of the contract with the existing toll supplier for three years until 2019 by entering into a negotiated procedure without prior publication. The Ministry justified this, among other things, by taking time to prepare a new toll competition and also by failing to collect toll after termination of the contract with the current supplier. However, the assignment with the negotiated procedure without prior publication was unlawful, because the Ministry got into this situation by taking its own steps.

There were some points left in the extended contract, which are, according to the SAO, unjustified. For example, the Ministry did not explain why it wanted to spend CZK 58 million on public relations in connection to the toll system that has been in operation since 2007 and is therefore a well-known thing. The supplier has to refurbish the components of the toll system from 2017 to 2019, but the Ministry has not dealt with the fact that to rebuild the system even shortly before its planned shutdown is not economical. For this service they will pay at least CZK 258 million. The same problem was transferred to the toll contract for 2020 to 2029 with the estimated value of CZK 29 billion. Even in these years, the supplier has to renew the system for the entire duration, regardless of the end of the system operation.

Communication department
Supreme Audit Office

1] The European Electronic Toll Service is an EU initiative to eliminate the need to register a vehicle in all systems in Europe and to have in-vehicle units in one country only.

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