The PSD asked this Friday for a parliamentary hearing by the Minister of the Environment, Duarte Cordeiro, and the administration of Metropolitano de Lisboa to clarify the possibility of changes to the ring line under construction, which was admitted this week by the government .
In a request addressed to the chairman of the parliamentary committee on economics, the Social Democrats welcome the change, but consider “this way of planning and programming incomprehensible”, which they say indicates “absolute disorientation and haste in the course of this process “.
For the PSD, it is important to clarify “what changes are needed to the original project” and “what is the impact on the execution time of the works involved and on the costs associated with this final change”, with the requests to be heard from the administration of Metropolitano de Lisboa and the Minister of Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro.
On Tuesday, the government admitted that the future ring line of the Metropolitano de Lisboa could be operated “in a loop”, without a transfer at Campo Grande station for yellow line passengers, and referred the decision to the company.
The operation of the ring line, as defined, envisages that passengers leaving Odivelas, Senhor Roubado, Ameixoeira, Lumiar, Quinta das Conchas and Telheiras stations will have to change at Campo Grande if they wish to go to other parts of Lisbon.
With “loop” circulation, this transfer is no longer necessary and the train leaving the future yellow line will continue on the new ring line.
In a statement, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action said circulation on the ring line could go through the operation “commonly referred to by the phrase ‘in a loop’ or a combination of these types of operations”.
The works for the construction of the circular line were announced on May 8, 2017 by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, Vitor Domingues dos Santos, at a press conference attended by the then Minister of the Environment, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, and the then mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina.
The circular line was highly contested by user movements and political parties, even receiving a recommendation from the Assembly of the Republic to stop the project.
In September 2021, the then PSD candidate for the Chamber of Lisbon and the current president, Carlos Moedas, proposed a “loop” line solution.
Earlier this month, Lumiar parish council president Ricardo Mexia (PSD) defended the same idea.
The expansion of the Circular Line, which is expected to open in 2024, involves a total planned investment of 331.4 million euros. However, in December 2018, the cost of the work was set at 210 million euros, a value that was revised to 240 ME in June 2021.
Source: DN
