The government is launching a new study that will decide on the location of the future airport in the Lisbon region, already under pressure from the lobby of engineers and economists who point to Alcochete as the best solution. The two Orders are part of the group that will oversee the independent technical commission responsible for the evaluation of not only Alcochete, but also four other hypotheses: Montijo, Santarém and two dual strategies between those two municipalities and the current airport Humberto Delgado.
For the president of the Order of Engineers, Fernando de Almeida Santos, “Alcochete has been the only alternative until now,” he said in statements to Dinheiro Vivo. About “this most recent solution from Santarém”, the chairman admits “reserved” because it is not known. “The decision must be a root airport, structuring the country,” he emphasized. In the same opinion, the President of the Order of Economists, António Mendonça, argues that “according to the available data and the well-known studies, everything is moving in the direction of Alcochete as the solution that best suits the purpose of what the airport should be ” .
Construction of the new Campo de Tiro de Alcochete airport, which would replace Humberto Delgado, was to be brought forward in 2008 under the second socialist government of José Sócrates, after the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC), which is now taking over. the allegations of the new independent technical commission (see text on the side), which has issued an opinion in favor of this location to the detriment of Ota. The cost would be about five million euros. In 2021, the president of ANA, José Luís Arnault, presented a higher bill: 7.6 million euros. The work never went ahead due to the sovereign debt crisis that hit Portugal and led to the entry of the Troika into the country.
In 2011, when the PSD-CDS coalition government of Pedro Passos Coelho was already in power, ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal was tasked with studying complementarity options, which would be cheaper, faster and guarantee that the existing infrastructure could be maintained. Thus the dual solution was born: Humberto Delgado Airport as the main structure and Montijo as an addition.
In January 2019, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the socialist government of António Costa and the concessionaire, already owned by France’s Vinci, to proceed with the construction of the complementary airport in Montijo. This solution, much cheaper than Alcochete, involved financing of 1.15 million euros that would be completely taken over by ANA. But the project fell through in March 2021 when the National Civil Aviation Authority failed to build the new airport at Montijo Air Base No. Seixal, who remained communist after the September 2021 municipal elections.
The cabinet subsequently decided to withdraw the binding authority of potentially affected municipalities. He tried last year, but without an absolute majority he would need the hand of the PSD to pass the proposal in the Assembly of the Republic. The then Social Democratic leader, Rui Rio, demanded more studies as a condition of getting the diploma. But all was to no effect and Portugal’s future international airport returned to square one with the leadership of the state budget for 2022 and the fall of the government.
Now the socialist executive is again presenting the same law. Yesterday’s Council of Ministers approved a proposal that removes the veto right of municipalities. Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos said the diploma “has the spirit of the proposal approved a year ago”. With the approval of this proposal, “the right of veto is reserved for the local and regional airport infrastructure”, according to the minister. “Municipalities do not stop being heard and expressing opinions, but they are not binding,” he added. The diploma must still have the approval of the parliament, but approval is guaranteed with the absolute majority of the PS.
Asked whether the numerous evaluations that have already been carried out will be useless, the minister assured “that all the studies that have already been carried out will be useful for the work of this committee, it is not a wasted work, it will be used”. Regarding the involvement of the ANA concessionaire in decision-making about the location of the new airport, Pedro Nuno Santos emphasized that “who decides where it is, it’s the state, it’s the government, it’s not a company that chooses and specifically”.
The Independent Technical Commission, which will be headed by a General Coordinator appointed by the Prime Minister on a proposal from the President of the High Council of Public Works, the President of the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities and the President of the National Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development, has until the end of 2023 to present a strategic assessment of the five or more solutions for the future airport. On the basis of this report, the cabinet will make a decision about the best location.
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Source: DN
