After a break of more than a month, the first-class roads in Slovakia could soon be tolled again. This is according to Prime Minister Robert Fico, who made the announcement following his meeting with road transporters, representatives of the National Highway Company (NDS), road toll system provider SkyToll and Transport Minister.

By blocking important roads with their lorries, Slovak carriers wanted to express their discontent over the running of the newly-introduced tolling system. Last week, the protest evoked traffic jams in major cities over Slovakia.

The number of lorries stuck on the border crossing points to Slovakia is increasing. The problems caused by introductions of new Slovak electronic road toll system.

"The new electronic road-toll system is not ready," stated the Union of Slovak Motor Carriers (UNAS). As much as the operator SkyToll claims that the system has been launched and works perfectly, transport companies disagree with that.

According to UNAS, 20 Turkish truck drivers couldn't secure a board unit anywhere in Slovakia while passing through. From Trstena to Ruzomberok (both in Zilina region), the drivers couldn't get a single working board unit. They were told the system had crashed and the registration is not possible.

The Slovak Republic changes the system of charging the road infrastructure from highway stickers to the electronic toll collection system. The new electronic tolling system put into operation at midnight on 1st January 2010.