PRAGUE, Oct 11 (Reuters) - A Czech regional court has issued a preliminary order forcing Austria's Kapsch to immediately halt construction of a highway toll system in the Czech Republic, the presiding judge said on Wednesday.
Family-owned Kapsch has been building the electronic system for trucks over 12 tonnes on 2,100 km (1,300 miles) of roads and had been expected to launch it next year to help manage the large flow of truck traffic though the central European country.
Jaroslav Tesak at the Brno Regional Court told Reuters the court acted on a motion filed by Italy's Autostrade <AUTS.MI>, which objected to a decision by antitrust authorities confirming Kapsch's victory in a Czech government tender.
The antitrust body threw out Autostrade's complaint earlier this year that the firm was unfairly eliminated from the tender.
Tesak said the order halting the toll system construction would remain in place until a court has ruled on the matter. Court hearings are scheduled to begin on Oct. 17.
Kapsch, along with France's APRR <APRR.PA> and Portugal's Brisa <BRI.LS>, offered to build and run the toll system for 640 million euros ($804.5 million).
The Czechs have expect to collect 10 billion-14 billion crowns ($446.2-$624.7 million) per year from the toll payments and cut the number of trucks driving through the central European country.
((Reporting by Marek Petrus
Editing by Louise Ireland
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Keywords: TRANSPORT CZECH KAPSCH