The president of the Superior Council of Public Works, Carlos Mineiro Aires, will chair the follow-up committee of the Independent Technical Commission that will study solutions for the new airport.
“The president of the Superior Council of Public Works is the president of the monitoring commission of the Independent Technical Commission”, confirms Pedro Nuno Santosin reference to Carlos Mineiro Aires, former president of the Order of Engineers, after the Company advanced the information on Sunday.
The minister said that this decision is reflected in the resolution of the council of ministers that was approved last week, adding that when the resolution is published, the full composition of the monitoring committee will be announced.
Asked about a preformed idea from Carlos Mineiro Aires about a preference for the Alcochete location for the Lisbon region airport, the minister replied: “The only way was if we didn’t have Portuguese engineers participating in the study.”
“In a country that has studied 17 localities in 50 years, it is normal that people have formulated their opinions for decades,” he said.
And when asked if the opinion of the president of the Superior Council of Public Works could affect a decision, Pedro Nuno Santos affirmed that “it obviously cannot and does not affect”, although he added that “obviously people are not ignorant of history, nor of studies of the past”.
In fact, they will be part of the evaluation that will be done. We will have an independent technical committee doing its job. We have to wait calmly, we have to involve the Government, civil society organizations, what we need are different opinions and their confrontation, but it will be the best solution”, the minister stressed.
The Technical Commission that will carry out the strategic environmental assessment of the new Lisbon airport will study five solutions, and may even propose more if it considers it necessary.
Source: Observadora
