Gathering close to 300 road transport CEOs, experts and government decision makers from some 30 countries, this years Study and Information Days of ASECAP was a huge success.

On the occasion of the ASECAP Days, Fabrizio Palenzona from AISCAT has passed the torch to ASETAs President José-Luis Feito who has been officially appointed ASECAP President for the period 2009 - 2011.

This 4-day event organised in partnership with the ASECAP Polish members from Autostrada Wielkopolska, Stalexport Autostrada Malopolska and Gdansk Transport Company has seen the participation of several keynote speakers, including EIB Director General Grammatiki Tsingou, vice-Ministers of Infrastructures from Poland and Italy, as well as European Commission DG TREN high-level representatives.

Accompanied by the presidents of 21 ASECAP national members, these personalities have joined the participants in addressing the ASECAP congress main theme "Socio-economic repercussions of an European greener transport policy".

President Fabrizio Palenzona opened the Congress stating that, "a sustainable transport policy is already a major priority for European motorways but that the EU agenda must adapt to todays socio-economical context, which is not positive and may lead to some critical readjustments".

In his message to Congress participants he added that "the EU transport policy is mature enough to address in a pragmatic and realistic way crucial issues such as electronic tolling, Eurovignette, ITS and safety. To this respect, tolling (and the role of motorways concessionaires) is becoming more and more prominent in order to maximise limited financial resources and adopt innovative tools to finance sustainable, safe and high-quality infrastructures".

Mrs Tsingou, intervening in the session dedicated to the role of concessionaires in the present crisis, presented the EIB actions and support to the EU transport policies, as well as to the Economic Recovery Package. Moreover, she underlined that infrastructure is key to recovery and that public promoters should have a role in fostering PPP projects and facilitating investment in toll motorways. She finally welcomed the major role motorways operators have played in creating wealth, upgrading service quality (traffic efficiency, safety, development of ITS tools) and promoting "fairer pricing".

Scientific highlights from the 4-day Congress

The conference featured advanced workshops with over 50 presentations covering the following topics:

  • ITS: from research to deployment;
  • 2010: Target year for halving 50.000 fatalities on EU roads;
  • Bringing into the charging reality the requirements of the Eurovignette directive;
  • Interoperability between national charging schemes: the CESARE IV project and national schemes under preparation;

Also there were held 2 interactive sessions:

  • Tolling and the latest technologies: Ideas that work!
  • Innovations and challenges in the road safety environment

Experts from all over Europe had the occasion to present the latest success stories in the above sectors, sharing and exchanging best practices to improve the daily management of motorways operations.

The debates led to the conclusion that an efficient transport policy is only achievable with efficient infrastructures (intelligent, cooperative, sustainable and safe) and intelligent management. To this end, infrastructures must be planned, built, operated and, mainly, financed. Tolling concessionaires have the answer!

The congress ended with an invitation from the representative of Norvegfinans to attend next years ASECAP Days that will be held in Norway (May 30 - June 2, 2010)

Find the proceedings on www.asecap.com/english/pubinf-contributions-en.html

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