Confederation fears construction could take decades, not years
Portugal’s tourism confederation has today said what most people have been thinking since the definitive plan for a new, modern, airport for Lisbon was presented by Luís Montenegro’s AD government almost a year ago: it can’t possibly be constructed according to current timelines.
“We are currently very, very concerned about Alcochete” (the location chosen after decades of procrastination) “I used to say – jokingly – that I didn’t know if I was ever going to get on board (a plane) at Alcochete. Now I’m saying I don’t know if I’ll ever see Alcochete. I’m very worried about its construction. I think it’s going to take 20 years and Portuguese tourism can’t last 20 years without an airport,” Francisco Calheiros, president of CTP, the confederation of Portuguese tourism, told Lusa.
It is a concern, he admits, that the CTP had before Montenegro’s government fell. Now, it is simply more acute.
With a caretaker government, no negotiations with airports manager ANA for example will be going ahead. In fact, Calheiros sounds as if he doubts everything.
“The other day I read that there have been nine locations for the new airport over the years. So I don’t know (if the decision taken in the meantime will be the one that goes forward).”
The current government approved the construction of the new airport at the Alcochete Firing Range, following the recommendation of the Independent Technical Commission (CTI). PS Socialists appeared fully behind the decision.
But Francisco Calheiros recalls the past.
“Passos Coelho’s government decided to build (the airport) in Montijo. There were elections, António Costa and the ‘geringonça’ won. Contrary to what everyone thought, António Costa stuck to his decision: “it’s going to be Montijo”. So CDS, PSD, PS, Bloco, the ‘gerigonça’, have already decided on Montijo. Where are we today? In Alcochete. Everything can change. We’re going to have a new government. If it’s the PS, it’s completely different. We don’t know if the ministers will be the same if it’s the PSD. I don’t know who the Minister for Infrastructure will be, for the Economy … I don’t know if they have other ideas…”
There may be all kinds of reasons for the CTP’s concerns being raised now: the confederation has always favoured Montijo (in spite of the real environmental downsides to the plan); ANA airports authority (and its owning company VINCI) has also always favoured Montijo. The elections are a time of ‘vulnerability’ for parties, we have no idea what kind of lobbying/pressure could be being brought to bear behind the scenes.
Lusa describes the moment as CTP advocating “an intermediate solution for Alcochete”.
“Portugal has endless requests for air links that are of great interest to us, such as the flight from Korea. We only confirmed it two months ago, and it has been on hold for a long time. A direct flight from South Korea is important. They are a very Catholic country; tourists visit Fátima, and this is decentralising tourism, which is very good. And we’re going to spend another 20 years refusing (flight authorisations)? It’s unthinkable,” Calheiros continued on his ‘let’s-change-plans’ trajectory
“I don’t know if a new minister is going to have this sensitivity and say: ‘ok, we’ll keep Alcochete for 20 years so we don’t have to discuss the location any more, but in the meantime, there has to be something’…”.
ANA estimates that the new Luís de Camões airport will cost €8.5 billion, of which €7 billion will be financed by issuing debt. It plans to open in mid-2037 or, with optimisations to the timetable to be negotiated with the government, at the end of 2036.
Minister for infrastructures, Miguel Pinto Luz, said in parliament in February that the government “doesn’t believe” in the deadlines, the amount and the increase in airport taxes that ANA wants and proposed a memorandum of understanding between the two parties to negotiate these issues.
He said that the government had requested an environmental impact assessment for all of them.
And now of course, the government is no longer in the driving seat. If AD is not returned, if PS Socialists win the elections, CTP’s searing question is ‘how can tourism grow’ in the way they want to see it growing?
Source: Lusa
