The Government has already taken the first steps in liberalizing the AP-7 as of 1 January 2020.

Last summer, the Council of Ministers aurorizo tendered four contracts for its operation and conservation between Salou (Tarragona) and Alicante with an estimated value of 129.17 million euros.

The Government wants to get contractors before the concession reversal, according to sources from the Ministry of Development. Contracts include the surrogacy of personnel currently carrying out conservation work on the highway.

Planned actions include the work of communications services, surveillance services, accident care, maintenance of road elements, systematic maintenance of electrical power supply facilities, variable signaling and semaforization.

Let us remember that every day the AP7 circulates on average 20,071 drivers in the stretch between Tarragona and Valencia and 19,205 on the Valencia-Alicante route.

But the end of the concession is approaching and the debate is well served, supporters and detractors about whether public management will be most appropriate because of the potential impact it could have at both the economic and environmental levels. Its main defender has been the Ministry of Development itself with its commitment to recover this highway by the State, a roadmap in line with that of the President of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig, who has shown a sharp free of this route.

A study published by EuroRAP, liberalizing the Mediterranean motorway will generate a deficit of more than 300 million euros in the period 2020-2030. Also the Institute of Economic Studies of Alicante (Ineca) warned of the increase in traffic by almost 20,000 more vehicles in 2030. However, it acknowledged that this was a social demand which generates a comparative grievance compared to other autonomys with totally free motorways.

Others such as the Chamber of Contractors of the Valencian Community proposed a soft toll to allocate resources to the maintenance of infrastructure, while, since the Valencian Federation of Construction Entrepreneurs, have raised an annual tax on vehicles, known as the 'vignette', such as the one in Switzerland whose motorways are free and pay 35 euros per vehicle per year for the maintenance of such infrastructures.