Until 2005, drivers paid both for using national roads (the so called toll sticker charges) and for using motorways (tolls collected on entering motorways). The system was incompliant with the European Union directive providing that drivers cannot be charged twice for using the same road. To solve the problem, regulations were introduced exempting vehicle owners who paid for toll sticker from paying tolls on motorways. Their vehicles could use motorways on the basis of toll sticker, while companies which operated the motorways were to receive compensations from the State Treasury.
The system for calculating compensations for charge-free use of motorways revealed serious faults from the very beginning. The NIK’s audit carried out between 15 October and 20 December 2009 disclosed irregularities in the activity of the officials of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) who failed to act in the interests of the State Treasury in an appropriate manner and did not provide for correct calculation of compensations. Because of that, for a few years companies received much higher money that they were supposed to, and even if they returned them, they did not pay interests due.
The A2 motorway licence holder, AW SA, until November 2009 received an overpayment amounting to about PLN 170 million from the state. This sum is growing every month and the state is unable to recover it. Even if the money is finally returned, the company will not pay any interests, because the contract concluded between the state and the company was disadvantageous to the state. The negotiations with the company are in progress, but the GDDKiA is still paying compensations on the basis of the law on motorways.
In the case of the A4 motorway, the licence holder, SAM SA, received about PLN 31 million (from 1 May 2007 to 28 February 2009). In February 2009, an agreement between the company and the Minister was concluded and the money was returned, but it was still disadvantageous to the State Treasury. The company returned the amount in instalments and did not pay any interests. The NIK estimates that the interests for using capital over such a period should stand at about PLN 1.5 million.
The present situation of the compensation system in the field of motorways may lead to huge financial losses of the state budget. The NIK, on the basis of the findings of its audit, informed the Prosecutor’s Office on a suspicion of an offence on the part of the officials of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the GDDKiA, consisting in serious financial losses resulting from neglecting their professional duties.
