A €20 million Spanish scheme made available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) supporting the deployment of intelligent systems that will provide enhanced communication and information services for motorways and tunnels of the Spanish State roads network in in line with EU state aid rules, the European Commission said on January 19.
According to the Commission, the measure will improve road safety in Spain and contribute to making road traffic more sustainable, through the deployment and enhancement of advanced digital technologies, in line with the EU’s strategic objectives relating to the digital transition, while limiting possible distortions of competition.
The measure, with an estimated budget of €20 million, will be entirely funded through the RRF following the Commission’s positive assessment of the Spanish recovery and resilience plan and its adoption by the Council.
The scheme will run until December 31, 2024, and the support will take the form of direct grants. It will be awarded, following a competitive selection procedure, to concessionaires and operation and maintenance (‘O&M’) companies active in the State roads network, the EU commission said.
The measure aims to improve traffic safety, efficiency, interoperability, energy efficiency and innovation in motorways and tunnels managed under concession regime; and improve safety in road operation and maintenance.
In this context, the intelligent systems projects that will be eligible to receive support under the scheme include, among others, automatic incident detection systems, systems for monitoring atmospheric conditions on roads, intelligent lighting control systems, cooperative systems to make the national transport network more interoperable, and systems to enable remote and automatic operation in maintenance works through drones and digitalised machinery.
The Commission said the aid will facilitate the development of an economic activity, and more specifically the digitalisation of certain economic services linked to road infrastructure through the deployment and enhancement of intelligent systems. This digitalisation will also help bridging the digital gap with road infrastructures, where the State has already carried out similar investment projects or is currently developing them.
The aid is necessary and proportionate for investors to carry out the targeted digitalisation projects. In this respect, the concessionaires and O&M companies applying for support, will need to submit a cost-benefit analysis demonstrating their financing gap; and the maximum amount of support that a project can receive is based on reasonable cost estimates, the Commission said, noting that the positive effects of the measure in terms of contribution to the digitalisation of certain economic services linked to the road infrastructure outweigh any possible negative effects in terms of distortions of competition.
