In the midst of a controversy over the “super profits” of the highway companies, the president of Vinci Autoroutes, Pierre Coppey, estimated this Wednesday that its result was “quite a bit lower than expected”, referring to the calculations of the Regulatory Authority of Transport. “The debate on the profitability of highway concessionaires is based less and less on objective considerations. We are very often in emotional outbursts,” he lamented before the regional planning commission of the Senate.
The concessionaires paid 14,000 million euros to the State during the privatization of the highways in 2005, assumed 20,000 million of debt and invested an additional 30,000 million, he explained. It is logical that they generate profits in the last years of their concessions, once those expenses are absorbed, according to him. For Autoroutes du Sud de la France (ASF), Vinci’s historic concession, the profit is now “more or less consistent, even a little lower than what was predicted in the model” on privatization, he told senators. .
Bercy wants to shorten the duration of the concessions “a few years”
The head of Vinci Autoroutes praised the “serious work” of the Transport Regulatory Authority (ART), whose calculations do not show excessive profitability. Author of a report on highway concessions in 2020, Senator Vincent Delahaye (UDI) had previously considered the ART methodology unclear. His own calculations – which are added to those of a study by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) of 2021 – conclude that the highway companies ASF-Escota (Vinci) in the south of France and APRR are “overprofitable”. ) between Paris and the Alps, once the expected rate of return of 8% is reached by the end of 2024, “from 30 to 35,000 million euros”.
Vinci’s main concessions end between 2032 and 2036, and Eiffage’s in 2035/36. “We have Vinci and Eiffage on which we must react,” the senator from Essonne insisted this Wednesday. “I don’t see why today we couldn’t terminate the contracts from the moment that economic and financial balance is reached,” he said.
The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, recently asked the Council of State how it would be possible to shorten “a few years” the duration of the concessions of these highway companies. The deputy minister for Transport, Clément Beaune, added that he must also study “all fiscal options”, since the Government intends to put highway companies to work to finance the announced railway effort.
Source: BFM TV
