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Having refused to carry out a strategic environmental assessment on the new Lisbon airport solution, the government takes a step back and says it will consider this possibility, that it should start by comparing the Portela plus Montijo solution with another alternative. This was a requirement of all the critics of this project, of the environmental associations, but also of the autarchies and the parties, including the PSD that even supports the option of the complementary airport at the Montijo military base.
The information was provided by the Minister of Infrastructure during the debate on the State Budget proposal. Pedro Nuno Santos was confronted by the PAN deputy, Inês Sousa Real, in relation to the National Infrastructure Investment Program.
The Government foresees that the PNI 2030, known for a week, will be subjected to a strategic environmental assessment. But the document is silent on the expansion of the airport – contrary to what happened in the previous plan – said the deputy. And he asked if the same criteria would also be adopted for the construction project of a complementary airport in Montijo, which was approved by the Government without carrying out this evaluation.
In response, the minister admitted that “we are in another world” due to the pandemic. At the beginning of the debate, Pedro Nuno Santos referred to a 70% drop in income. When Montijo was decided, the airport’s capacity was exhausted and “the urgency meant that we didn’t waste any more time.”
“But we are not unaware that the pandemic, by not eliminating the need to increase airport capacity, gives us time to consider the possibility of a strategic environmental assessment.”
Subsequently, when answering the numerous questions from the deputies, the Infrastructure Minister clarifies that the Government has not stopped believing in Montijo’s solution. But it reaffirms that a strategic environmental assessment is being considered, the results of which will be respected. And it avoided a confrontation with Vinci, the owner of ANA who proposed the Montijo military base as a complementary airport to Portela.
The government has thus far eliminated the scenario of stopping or even postponing the construction of the Montijo airport, arguing that the infrastructure will be necessary. The project received a favorable environmental impact statement, but conditional at the beginning of the year, but has not registered any visible progress. Faced with the effects of the pandemic, the Government was negotiating with the mayors of the southern bank to try to overcome the opposition of Moita and Seixal to the project.
Carrying out a strategic environmental assessment will extend the infrastructure construction schedule whose completion was scheduled for 2023. But forecasts for the sector indicate that only in 2024 or 2025 will the aeronautical sector be able to resume the level of activity in 2019.
The strategic environmental assessment also reopens the door to the solution of the Alcochete Firing Range, defended by various experts and by the left-wing parties of the PS, and which even had a favorable strategic environmental assessment in 2010. However, this project provided for the construction of a new large airport to replace Portela, a solution that was eliminated with the sale of ANA to Vinci. The French investor has already made it known that he prefers to maintain the current airport, within the city, and opt for a complementary structure instead of developing a much greater investment in a new airport.
