Substantiation of tariffs for using toll roads: socio-economic aspect

Abstract

The socio-economic development of the region depends on many factors, but the role of transport infrastructure in this process cannot be overestimated. The construction of new roads, airports, and railways is a barometer of the dynamic and successful development of the territory and its economic or political role in the region and the global economic space. Attracting private investment in the construction of roads and their further paid operation raises the most difficult question of justifying tariffs for road users. When resolving this issue, one cannot limit oneself to a commercial approach based on the cost recovery mechanism and marginal profitability, it is necessary to take into account the level of solvency of potential users of the toll road, the socio-economic level of development of the territory where it is supposed to be operated, as well as the presence of potential strategic points of economic growth that can become a trigger for further socio-economic transformations in the region. In this regard, the development of methodological approaches to substantiate tariffs for using toll roads, taking into account external socio-economic factors, is one of the determining conditions for a reasonable decision-making on attracting private and public investments in transport infrastructure facilities.