The Liberal Initiative (IL) of Loures called for the suspension of the Light Surface Metro project, which should connect this municipality with Odivelas in 2025, warning of delays and “risks of budget derailment”of the project.
“As of July 2022 and a few months before the start of the work, we do not have a defined route, we have a budget gap on the way to 100% and a gap in the estimated completion time of the work of 33%. All these factors call into question the financing through the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR)”, IL stressed in a motion, which was rejected by the rest of the parties.
The party defended the suspension of the Metro until the presentation to the Municipal Assembly of a corrective budget for the project, the guarantee of the financing of securities that go beyond the PRRthe presentation of an economic viability study for the metro, the carrying out of citizen consultations by parishes and the provision of a real-time schedule for monitoring the work.
IL quoted statements from the socialist councilor of Loures Nuno Dias to highlight that the budget for the work is already estimated at 450 million euros, “an increase of 200 million over the initial budget“, at a stage in which “the financing of the work is not guaranteed, be it the approximately 100 million estimated for current inflation values will be the 40 million that are the responsibility of the municipality“.
On the other hand, the Liberals of Loures point out that the work only serves a part of the population of the Parish of Loures and the Union of Parishes of Santo António dos Cavaleiros e Frielas, when “could and should be a factor of economic and social developmentfor the municipality, benefiting “all Lourenses, without exception, without it being a financial problem that generates unbearable public debt, for current and future generations”.
“In a project still surrounded by so much uncertainty, whose completion is not guaranteed and in a crisis scenario with a direct impact on the economic life of families, we cannot lightly condone the creation of debt for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren” , considered the party.
The “Cooperation Protocol for the development of a public transport network on its own site (TCSP), in the Surface Light Metro (MLS) modality”, was signed on July 5, 2021 by the Loures City Council and the Odivelas City Council , in a public act attended by the President of the Government, António Costa.
The protocol provided for the collaboration of the two municipalities and the Generalitat to connect Loures and Odivelas of light rail by 2025, in an investment of 250 million euros, fully financed with European funds from the PRR, as announced by the Government.
According to IL, according to the official website “Mais Transparência”, 32.5 million euros have already been awarded, 13% of the amount initially budgeted, when the period of execution of the contracts with the companies for the environmental viability of the project has already ended. . , without there being an “environmental feasibility study, nor information on when it will end.”
“We are at the gates of 2023, the year in which the construction of the work has to begin, and there are still no studies, nor a definitive line drawn,” he stressed, fearing that it implies delays in the completion of the work. losing their funding through the PRR.
Source: Observadora
