Two more: Nine sites are already being studied for the new Lisbon airport. Monte Real and Alcochete+Portela join the list
In addition to the five options proposed by the government, the independent Technical Commission has the green light to expand the range of sites under study. After considering Alverca and Beja, the experts are also considering Monte Real and are moving forward with the combination of Alcochete and Portela, according to the president of the commission to the newspaper “Público”.
The independent technical commission that is studying the location of the new Lisbon airport already has nine options on the table. In addition to the five options established by the government (Portela plus Montijo, Montijo plus Portela, Alcochete, Portela plus Santarém, and Santarém), the options of Alverca and Beja have been added, and two other solutions are now in play – Monte Real and the combination of Alcochete plus Portela.
According to statements made by the president of the commission, Rosária Partidário, to the newspaper Público, the “Monte Real solution” was accepted by the commission after the Leiria city council presented the proposal, and the Alcochete+Portela hypothesis was added by the commission itself, which has the green light from the government to do so by April 27, when the final list of hypotheses will be presented.
“The Portela solution, as the main airport, with the Alcochete firing range as a complementary one, is the only one we are proposing, for the sake of consistency,” the commission president told the newspaper. The Ota hypothesis, according to Público, was not proposed to the commission by anyone.
The final list must include the five hypotheses presented by the government when, last November, after reaching an agreement with the PSD of Luís Montenegro, it asked the commission headed by Rosário Partidário to continue the process. In addition to the various possible combinations between Portela, Montijo and Alcochete, the hypothesis of Santarém also entered the “mandatory” range at the request of the PSD. Now Alverca, Beja and Monte Real have been added.
The independent Technical Commission, set up at the end of last year and based at the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) in Lisbon, is chaired by Professor Rosário Partidário and has a team of six technical coordinators, including University Professor Rosário Macário, a specialist in the planning and operation of transport systems, who is responsible for coordinating the airport planning area.
Once the list of possible sites is finalized, the Technical Commission must present the hypotheses to the Supervisory Commission, headed by engineer Carlos Mineiro Aires. This was the working model agreed upon by the government and the PSD, after the Prime Minister revoked the order signed by the Minister of Infrastructures, Pedro Nuno Santos, unilaterally pursuing a plan that took three paths: work at Portela, then Montijo on a temporary basis, and then Alcochete. For António Costa, however, the solution found would have to be agreed with the largest opposition party, and the order was revoked.
