Talks with Vinci on construction of new Lisbon airport “to start soon”
Minister says negotiations will begin in the next few days
Portugal’s minister for infrastructure and housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, has announced in Porto that negotiations with Vinci for the construction of Lisbon’s new Luís de Camões airport will begin in the next few days.
Speaking on Monday on the sidelines of signing a contract to carry out improvements to Sá Carneiro Airport’s main runway, he said of the Lisbon project announced for Alcochete: “Negotiations with Vinci (owner of Portugal’s airports manager, ANA) will begin in the next few days. The fact that we have come here today is also to signal the start of this journey and also of this negotiation to clearly define all the conditions for Lisbon’s new airport.”
When asked about the expansion of the current Lisbon airport, he said that the latest information available to the government “is that these works will begin by the end of the year”.
On the subject of the year’s delay in starting the expansion of Humberto Delgado (Lisbon’s current) Airport, Miguel Pinto Luz began by saying that “this is the national drama” that they want to “combat”.
“We can’t be late, because if we are late with all these ‘timings’, and they are absolutely interconnected,” many situations are jeopardised, he said, citing as an example “the high-speed rail link to Madrid (from Lisbon), the high-speed link to Vigo and the airport structures”.
He insisted: “We can’t afford to be late. If we delay, we jeopardise the country’s economic growth and we can’t give up on that.”
Also asked about the cause of the delays, he referred the answer to Vinci.
“We don’t know yet, but it has to do with design issues, logistical issues, even construction issues, which we are unaware of, but we are questioning Vinci to find out what we can do to speed up these deadlines,” he explained.
Regarding the investment that led him to Porto on Monday, he recalled that Sá Carneiro airport “has grown enormously in terms of air traffic and required investment,” which is why “the contract was signed today”.
“I said earlier that this is the beginning of a journey that the country will face as a whole, with challenges to which we invite all the Portuguese and users of these airport infrastructures to make some sacrifices (…) that will place us in 10 years’ time with a new airport in Lisbon, we are convinced, but also with Francisco Sá Carneiro (airport) strengthening its capacity to continue to grow,” said the minister.
The minister considered it “a bottleneck for the country’s economic growth” not to have “an airport structure at the level of ambition” that the government wants to “place on Portugal’s growth”.
Source: LUSA
