The Soller Tunnel toll in Mallorca was removed in 2017

The toll system ended in late 2017. | Marcos Carreras

Andrew EdeSoller16/01/2025 09:12
TW
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Ever since the Soller Tunnel was made toll-free in December 2017, the company which had the contract for the toll system has been battling with the Council of Mallorca for compensation it believes is owed for the early termination of the contract. The current upper limit is put at 31.5 million euros, a sum that more or less equates to what the company, Globalvia, has been demanding all along.

Determining the definitive amount is a matter for the Balearic High Court. In October last year, the court asked the two parties to justify their respective figures. The Council has calculated 13 million euros and not the 16.2 million that it settled on and which was paid. It bases this sum on the drop of income there would have been because of the pandemic. Globalvia are seeking 28.2 million plus payment for late interest, which takes the total up to the 31.5 million.

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The court in Palma will most likely take into account a ruling by the Supreme Court in Madrid in September 2023. This judgement, which was final and therefore not subject to appeal, was that the Council had failed to justify the elimination of the toll.

Moreover, the court rejected a Council argument that it had been in the regional community interest. Having ruled that the ending of the toll system was void (illegal), the court left it up to the Balearic High Court to arrive at a definitive compensation settlement.

The Council of Mallorca is at present run by the Partido Popular and Vox. The campaign to eliminate the toll was very much driven by the Més president of the Council from 2015 to 2019, Miquel Ensenyat, with the support of PSOE and Podemos. But the change in political make-up has no bearing on the outcome to the compensation claim, the current administration concerned that the Supreme Court's ruling will end up favouring the company.