The president of the Business Association of the Leiria Region (Nerlei), António Poças, defended this Wednesday that the “obvious location” for the country’s new airport infrastructure is north of the Tagus River.
“As there are no constraints to prevent it, Nerlei considers that the The obvious location of the new airport would be north of the Tagus Riverbecause that is where the majority of the population is and the economic activity that most uses, and will use, this infrastructure,” António Poças told the Portuguese news agency.
In a written response, Nerlei’s president noted that, with this location, “the construction of new access infrastructures was avoided.that require large investments, such as a new bridge over the Tagus”.
António Poças considered, on the other hand, that the country “is already losing” and will do so “lose even more, since this decision was not made several years ago“.
“Listen to those who should listen, seek possible consensus, but make a decision,” the Nerlei official defended, stressing that “there is no reason to postpone this decision any longer, which is strategic for the country’s development and must be based on criteria of economic, environmental and financial efficiency, and thinking in the long term”.
The President of the Government, the socialist António Costa, ordered this Thursday the revocation of the order that indicated the municipalities of Montijo and Alcochete as the headquarters of the new airport solution for the Lisbon region, disavowing the Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, who the day before he presented this proposal.
Pedro Nuno Santos revokes the airport solution that is at the origin of the political crisis
The solution suggested was to continue with the project for a new airport. in Montijo complementary to Humberto Delgado Airport, in Lisbon, which will be operational at the end of 2026, both closed when the airport at the Alcochete Shooting Range completed, expected in 2035.
It seemed to be the decisive step towards the new airport, but it was five steps back. Costa says that everything is in sight
On the same day, António Costa defended that in the new airport solution for the Lisbon region it is necessary “to work for a technical, political, environmental and economically sustainable solution, a solution that is the subject of a national consensus, that is, with the greatest opposition party”.
However, the president of the Intermunicipal Community (CIM) of the Leiria Region, Gonçalo Lopes, asked the Government to compare the towns of Ota and Alverca for the future airport.
It’s time to be able to make the right decisions and implement them quickly. And, therefore, our position —and which is also being debated with other CIMs (…)— is that the Government, as it opened a profound debate on this issue in the near future, once again includes in the analysis the solution to the north of the Tagus ”, in this case Alverca and Ota, said Gonçalo Lopes, also mayor of Leiria.
For the mayor, the solution is that, from the economic and environmental point of view“was, for a long time, specifically Ota, classified as one of the best proposals”.
In addition to Leiria, this CIM includes the municipalities of Alvaiázere, Ansião, Batalha, Castanheira de Pera, Figueiró dos Vinhos, Marinha Grande, Pedrógão Grande, Pombal and Porto de Mós.
Source: Observadora
