Norwegian Road Tolls debt: NOK 43 billion
There are NOK 43 billion in debt on all active Road Toll projects in Norway. That is where the collection is active, according to the government. Interest rates vary between 0.95 and 5.58 per cent. Road users will have to pay nearly 60 per cent of this.
The figures are from a response that Minister of Transport, Jon Georg Dale (Progress Party), has sent to Parliament on questions from Bengt Fasteraune (Center Party).
The Ministry of Transport has submitted a cost estimate for 47 projects. These will, according to estimate, cost a total of NOK 86 billion.
Around three-quarters of the projects will be financed 50 per cent or more through road tolls. The road toll share in the various projects is, on average, 58 per cent.
Big packages omitted
Fasteraune asked for a cost overview of all road toll projects in Norway. The costs of the big city packages around Bergen, Nord-Jæren, Trondheim, Oslo and Kristiansand are omitted, on the grounds that «The financial framework is assessed in connection with the revision of the National Transport Plan/Urban Growth agreements».
The overview only covers projects where road toll collection has started. The total is NOK 58 billion If you include other debt, the ministry clarifies.
Nine of the road toll projects are linked to E6. Of these, Gardermoen – Kolomoen and E6 and Østfoldpakken are the most expensive, costing an estimated 8.3 and NOK 11.2 billion respectively.
Many of the projects go on for many years. 16 of them are not finished until 2030 or later. The last completion of a project is not before 2038 (E18 Gulli – Langangen, with a total cost of NOK 9.5 billion).
Various interest rates
Interest rates on the various projects averaged 1.94 per cent at year-end. The total debt of NOK 43 billion is also based on December 31st, 2018.
The highest interest rates are for E6 Trondheim – Stjørdal, where the interest rate was 4.48 per cent, with a debt of NOK 1.2 billion. This is topped only by County Road 17 Tverlandet – Godøystraumen (Interest rate: 5.58 per cent, debt: NOK 76 million). The latter will be paid off during the year by an extraordinary government grant.
The lowest interest rate (0.95 per cent) is found on the E136 Tresfjord Bridge/Vågstrand Tunnel. The debt for that is NOK 582 million.
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A good overview
Fasteraune is also requesting an estimate of the amounts garnished for each of the projects so far. He, additionally, wants to know how much will be collected in total. The Ministry has, however, not answered this for now.
The Ministry has instead provided figures showing that NOK 9.7 billion was collected in tolls in 2017. Operating and financial costs from the same year have also been disclosed.
“Along with the information on remaining debt and the expected completion of road toll collection, I believe that this provides an adequate overview of the status of the various road toll projects,” Dale writes in his response.
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© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
