The Portuguese Tourist Confederation (CTP) asked this Wednesday for a regime pact between the PS and PSD, “now”, for decisions “that go beyond a legislative power”, such as that of the new airport.
“Because a political decision has to be made, the CTP would like the two largest parties, PSD and PS, to conclude a regime pact that will prioritize issues beyond a legislature, starting with the decision on the new airport . like TAP”defended the confederation in a statement to the media.
On Tuesday, the Independent Technical Commission (CTI) presented the preliminary report of the strategic environmental assessment for the expansion of the airport in the Lisbon region, concluding that of the nine options examined, only Alcochete and Vendas Novas are viable, with the former being more feasible . economical and provides a temporary dual solution with Humberto Delgado Airport.
“What the CTI announced yesterday [terça-feira] is not binding, it requires a political decision which, again, will be postponed due to the current political situation. So we have to wait until the new government emerges from the parliamentary elections on March 10 before a decision is made that has already been made more than 50 years ago”marked CTP in the same note.
On Tuesday, after the presentation of the CTI report, the president of CTP, Francisco Calheiros, said that he believes that there will be no new airport in the next ten years and that the “major concern” for the confederation “is that Portela will be completely exhausted ”, therefore a medium-term solution is needed, he said, citing Montijo as “the cheapest and fastest solution” and the only one that has an environmental impact statement and has already been negotiated with the concessionaire.
“There will be no airport in the next ten years and ten years to make Montijo profitable is much more than enough”he reinforced.
For Francisco Calheiros, the option for Alcochete entails “obvious economic risks” as the country “loses money every day” by refusing flights due to lack of capacity, “including for the privatization of TAP itself”.
“Whoever is going to buy TAP will want to develop it and to do that they need to have runway capacity, for that they need to have airport capacity”he claimed.
In the note sent this Wednesday, the CTP urged a “medium-term solution”, which it does not see included in the CTI report, which it considers an error.
Source: DN
