The Assembly of the Republic discussed this Wednesday a petition and proposals from BE, PAN and PSD that insist on the suspension or review of the Lisbon Metro circular line project, which is already underway.
BE, PAN and PSD follow the concerns contained in the petition “against the end of the current yellow line of the Lisbon metro”, which was submitted to parliament in March 2019, signed by 4,366 citizens, and reaches parliamentary discussion three years later, at a time when the Government has already begun work to expand the Lisbon Metro network in the section between the Rato station and the future Estrela station.
In a note, the Citizen Movement “Against the End of the Yellow Line”, created as a result of the petition, lamented this Tuesday the delay in the discussion and the progress of the work in the absence of the challenge.
In the petition “Against the end of the current yellow line of the Lisbon metro”, Citizens demonstrate against the extension between the stations of Rato (on the Yellow Line) and Cais do Sodré (on the Green Line), reducing the Yellow Line to the section between Odivelas and Campo Grande.
In addition, they warn of the damage caused by the project to the “thousands of passengers who today take the metro in the municipality of Odivelas and in the upper part of Lisbon”, who you will have to change lines at Campo Grande to reach stations such as Rato, Marquês de Pombal or Saldanhain the center of the capital.
“Only those who do not take the metro every day do not know the inconvenience of changing lines, many times the wait for the metro is longer than the time of the trip itself”, they consider, stressing that “the metro will no longer be an attractive option ”.
In the proposals discussed on Wednesday, the BE and the PAN insist on suspending the project and the PSD proposes that it be reformulated.
The three parties point out that the Assembly of the Republic has previously approved recommendations in which the Government deputies asked the Government to suspend the circular line, in addition to the fact that the 2020 State Budget (OE2020) “included a rule that suspended the circular line” .
“However, the Government decided to go ahead, with the support of the President of the Republic who, at the time, justified it with the fact that it was a simple ‘recommendation'”, highlights BE, who wants Parliament to insist again with the executive to the immediate suspension of the works.
BE also asks the Government to look at the Loures area as an alternativethe western part of the city of Lisbon and guarantee “that the populations of Odivelas are not harmed”.
The sole deputy of the PAN, Inês Sousa Real, accuses the Government of “non-compliance” with the OE2020 Law and claims that this time the suspension of the construction process of the Circular Line between Cais do Sodré and Campo Grande, “must be given priority to the expansion of the metro network to Loures, as well as to Alcântara and the western part of Lisbon”.
The PSD adds that the circular line “has deserved the response from the beginning” by “many technicians and specialists from various areas”, but, now that the procedures have already begun, it wants the Government to review the project and adopt, alternatively, a looped line.
“The ‘Loop Line’ [Odivelas – Campo Grande – Rato – Cais do Sodré – Alameda – Campo Grande – Telheiras]which has no costs and because it does not cut the direct connection from the center to the periphery [Odivelas e posteriormente Loures]improves public transport alternatives for users who enter Lisbon by car every day from the north of Lisbon and, in this way, will reduce the number of cars that enter Lisbon every day”, considers the PSD.
The Government’s plan for the Lisbon Metro foresees a circular route on the Green Line, which will become part of the route between Campo Grande station, currently on the Yellow Line, and Cais do Sodré (on the Green Line).
For that two new stations will be built in Estrela, next to the Basilica, and in Santos that will connect the Rato (end of current yellow line) to Cais do Sodre.
Source: Observadora
