The French State has compensated the concessionaire of the future A69 motorway to the tune of 79 million euros after the long interruption of the construction site in 2025, we learned on Tuesday March 3 from the Ministry of Transport.
Work on this new Toulouse-Castres axis was interrupted on February 27, 2025 by a judgment from the Toulouse administrative court which canceled the environmental authorization granted to this project. A project which has been the subject, since the start of the project, of strong protest from environmental defense associations.
The construction site was then authorized to resume at the end of Mayfollowing a first provisional decision of the administrative court of appeal of Toulouse which finally validated on December 30 the environmental authorization. The Council of State is now seized of the matter.
The interruption that occurred between February and May “upset the economic balance of the contract” passed between the State and the Atosca concessionaire, explained a ministerial source, confirming the payment of compensation to Atosca, revealed by the investigative media Media.
A “highway on public funds”
This upheaval made it necessary to negotiate at the end of which compensation was agreed, around 79 million euros, according to the same source, an amount “almost halved compared to initial requests” of Atosca, she said.
In a press release to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the concessionaire simply stated that“mediation was carried out by two independent third parties between the State and Atosca in order to define the conditions for resuming work”. “This makes it possible to cover the additional costs which are imposed on the company, on the concessionaire, and were not provided for in the initial contract, due to the cessation of the construction site”detailed the ministerial source.
The Ministry of Transport, which “deplores” this situation, notes that it “is the result of the legal appeals that there were against this site which was already very committed” and a “quasi-judicial obstruction by opponents”. These approximately 80 million “extra cost” come “to increase” the total budget, which was estimated between 400 and 500 million euros, added the ministry.
“The State is a servile lackey who lies down in front of NGE-Atosca and the A69 enforcers”castigated the collective of opponents The way is free, denouncing a “system organized to offer a private group its highway with public funds”. “The site is fully mobilized, with delivery planned for the second half of 2026”for its part underlined Atosca in its press release.
