“Having aroused some expectation intended to lead one to believe that the matter would be dealt with thoroughly and conscientiously, yesterday’s meeting [sexta-feira]September 23, 2022, between the government and the leader of the PSD, a small series of statements, some of them unnecessary, were closed,” the citizens’ platform, which opposes the construction of the new airport in Montijo, begins in a statement.
In the statement released today, the BA6-Montijo Airport Civic Platform Não states that the participants in this meeting “accepted to include in the strategic environmental assessment (SEA)” an “airport location on demand solution”.
“It became known that, instead of discussing what airport solution Lisbon and the country need, the methodology and timing for said SEA was addressed,” the platform criticizes.
The civil society also accuses the government and the PSD, in what it calls a “negative coalition”, of excluding the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) from carrying out the studies, and sees it as a “disregard and devaluation of the public , impartial and independent institutions”.
“It is biased, even insulting, to insinuate that LNEC would not have sufficient exemption, as it defended “Alcochete”. Nothing could be more false and unworthy. LNEC did what it was asked by the government: it conducted a comparison based on based on a technical, economic, financial and environmental assessment based on the factors critical to the decision. The government approved this report as it was within its competence,” they said.
This platform, which has repeatedly defended an airport solution at Campo de Tiro de Alcochete, in the Setúbal district, says the government fears that “Portuguese scientific institutions would come to confirm that this is the “real and strategic location.”
“The airport problem is not primarily a question of location, but what solution the country and region of Lisbon, and the Portuguese around the world, need to defend, protect and improve their unique ‘HUB’ [centro de operações]. Lisbon’s ‘HUB’ and TAP’s ‘HUB’,” the platform underlines.
The prime minister announced on Friday that there is an agreement with the PSD on the methodology for the decision on the new airport and added that the future technical committee will study several locations, in addition to Montijo and Alcochete, including Santarém.
These data were passed on by António Costa at the end of a meeting lasting about 55 minutes, in São Bento, with the PSD president, Luís Montenegro – a meeting in which the Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, and the Social Democrat ” deputy” Miguel Pinto Luz.
At a press conference, the prime minister said there was agreement with the PSD on the method to be followed until a “final” decision on the location of the new Lisbon regional airport.
António Costa added that the Council of Ministers will soon adopt a resolution establishing an independent technical commission and a monitoring commission.
This technical commission, according to the leader of the executive, will not be limited to studying the solutions of Montijo and Alcochete, but also allow hypotheses such as Santarém “and others” that this commission will consider.
Source: DN
