Proposal has been rejected twice before
A group of economists and engineers are going to publish an open letter on Friday (November 17) defending a solution that involves the Alverca-Portela locations for the future Lisbon air hub, connected by a shuttle that would take 12 minutes.
Speaking to Lusa, Luís Póvoas Janeiro, an economist at Universidade Católica in Lisbon, explained that this hub was presented to the Independent Technical Commission (CTI) but ended up not being part of the group of solutions being studied by the organisation for the expansion of Lisbon’s airport capacity.
They have now decided to resubmit the solution taking into account the current context, with new elections scheduled for March next year.
“This solution has been rejected twice before,” he recalled, but said that it could still be included in the process if there is “lucidity”.
He said that this solution was more “economical”, including the shuttle that would connect the terminals in 12 minutes, and the option for this hub would cost around €1 billion overall, an amount that he said would be covered by the concessionaire.
Among the advantages pointed out by the group of experts who advocate this alternative is a reduction in noise for the region’s populations and a “railway revolution”, which the group says would save a guaranteed €5 billion.
They also said that it would be completed much more quickly than the other solutions, estimating that it would take four years after the decision was taken to be fully operational.
In addition to Luís Póvoas Janeiro, this group includes José Proença Furtado, António Segadães Tavares, António Carmona Rodrigues, António Gonçalves Henriques, Fernando Nunes da Silva, Ricardo Ferreira Reis and Rui Vallejo de Carvalho.
On April 27, the technical commission that is studying the expansion of Lisbon’s airport capacity announced nine possible options for the new airport, which include the five defined by the government plus Portela + Alcochete, Portela + Pegões, Rio Frio + Poceirão and Pegões.
A cabinet resolution approved last year set up an Independent Technical Commission to analyse five options for Lisbon’s airport solution (Portela + Montijo; Montijo + Portela; Alcochete; Portela + Santarém; and Santarém) but provided that other options could be added.
Source: LUSA
