The Vice Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, admitted, in an interview published this Sunday, that the Lisbon Metro works “are delayed” and that it will not be possible to recover this delay. The minister added that the Metropolitano de Lisboa company is adjusting the program so that Portugal does not lose the European funds destined for the expansion of the metro network in the Portuguese capital.
“There is great concern about what is happening in the Lisbon Metropolitan works,” which are “delayed,” admitted Castro Almeida, in an interview with Jornal de Notícias and TSF. “It’s the kind of job where it’s not easy to pick up the pace. The hood does not travel more than a few meters a day.. The delay will not be recovered,” the government official acknowledged.
Even so, the head of the European funds portfolio highlighted that the Lisbon Metropolitan public company “is adjusting the program” of the works to avoid the loss of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Several tens of millions of euros of European funds are at stake. “There is this concern about not losing money, and if we don’t do four seasons, we will do two seasons.”underlined Castro Almeida, who recalls that, as long as some stations are operating within the planned period (that is, until the end of 2026), the works “are financed by the PRR.”
The Lisbon metro tunnel that connects the future Estrela and Santos stations is completed
The Minister of Territorial Cohesion also expressed concern about Portugal’s ability to complete all planned works in the next two and a half years. The biggest difficulty is the lack of available labor. “There is such an intensity and volume of works that it may call into question whether there is internal capacity to be able to build such a large volume of works,” Castro Almeida highlighted.
Regarding the execution of the PRR, the minister assumed a goal that he describes as “ambitious”: to execute, by the end of this year, 40% of the funds. Regarding another European funds program, Portugal 2030, the government’s goal is to execute 20% of the funds by the end of 2025.
Source: Observadora
