Motorway concessions

The motorway system is managed through the concession of public works and services (construction and operation) as provided for by the law of 18 April 1955.

The concession agreement, which is associated with specifications, is a contract through which the State, as concession grantor, entrusts concessionaires, who work at their own risk, bearing all the responsibilities relating to the construction and operation of motorways.

Toll concessions are a key means of financing infrastructure:

• This approach has enabled France to build, maintain and operate more than 8,300 km of toll motorways without placing any burden on the taxpayer or on government budgets. Across Europe, there are more than 25,000 km of toll motorway. Toll concessions facilitate the gradual development of interconnected mobility corridors that are safer, smoother-flowing, more reliable and more open, and where an ever-wider range of constantly-improving services will be provided regardless of location.
• It is a concrete example of the “user pays” principle. There is no reason why the French taxpayer should subsidise the journeys of the many foreign vehicles that pass through the country without stopping off.
• It means that road transport can be made to pay a large proportion of its external costs: environmental protection and optimisation of safety are factored in at the construction stage, and therefore paid for by the users.
• By creating new resources without calling on public finance, the toll system frees capacity on the free-of-charge network, thereby allowing investment in that network to be greatly deferred. On average, a kilometre of motorway paid for by a toll system leaves an additional 7 million euros of public money available for use in financing other public services such as hospitals, schools and police stations.
• It should also be noted that toll concession has now gained wide acceptance in France.

The State and APRR Group are tied by a Group contract and two company contracts for the period 2004-2008. For that period, APRR & AREA agree to provide the resources required for objectives to be met in the following areas in line with the principles of a sustainable development:

• Network construction and upgrading
• Safety and service quality
• Environmental protection
• Social policy
• Operational productivity.

Pricing policy for APRR and AREA is set out in the relevant contracts.