The Supreme Court has partially upheld the appeal of the concessionaire made up of ACS, Abertis, Acciona, and Globalvía, responsible for the operation of the R-2 highway in Madrid until its rescue in 2018. The decision implies nullifying the liquidation of zero euros set by the Government as compensation for taking over the management of this infrastructure.
The ruling, dated October 8, and to which Europa Press has had access, invalidates both the calculation approved by the Council of Ministers in an initial resolution of 2023 and that of the complementary resolution of 2025. In both cases, the liquidation resulted in a negative amount, and therefore, the State did not pay any amount to the concessionaire.
The so-called Patrimonial Responsibility of the Administration (RPA) had been set at -50 million euros, mainly due to the investment that the State deemed necessary to ensure an adequate state of conservation of the road and for the expropriations already paid during its construction.
In any case, these amounts were still provisional, and a third definitive calculation is pending. The High Court criticizes in its ruling the delay in finalizing the final figure since, on March 1, 2018, the State took over the management of the R-2 through the State Society of Land Transport Infrastructure (SEITT).
For this reason, the Supreme Court recognizes the right of the concessionaire for the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to determine "without further delay" the RPA, and to do so applying the rules and criteria established in its rulings of 2022. These criteria could significantly increase the bill that the State will have to face for the rescue of this and other bankrupt highways after the financial crisis of 2008.
So far, the rescue of the nine highways has involved a provisional disbursement of 1.684 billion euros by the State, as most of these infrastructures are still in the phase of second resolution. In this context, for the R-4, 134 million euros have been paid; for the AP-36, 319; for the AP-41, 41 million; for the AP-7 Cartagena-Vera, 278; for the AP-7 Alicante, 307; and for the M-12, 46; while, in the case of the R-2, the provisional cost remains zero euros.