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The completion of the Montijo airport encountered another obstacle this Tuesday, as the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC) stated, in a statement, that it rejected the request “for a prior evaluation of the viability of the construction of the complementary airport in Montijo” that It was presented to him by ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, at the end of last January.
“As part of the application,” says the civil aviation regulator, ANA, a company that manages national airports (owned by the French group Vinci), attached, among other elements, the opinions of the municipalities of potentially affected municipalities, if for cleared surfaces, or for environmental reasons, with two favorable opinions, two unfavorable opinions and the non-presentation of an opinion by one of the chambers ”.
In this way, and given that the law determines “the basis for the preliminary denial the absence of a favorable opinion from all the municipalities of the potentially affected municipalities”, the regulator indicates that it should “definitively reject the request”, this “in compliance of the principle of legality and the binding mandate of the legislator contained in the aforementioned legal provision “, without even place” for the technical assessment of the merit of the project.
Strategic environmental assessment on the way
The law in question dates from 2007, when the PS Government, chaired by José Sócrates, published a decree-law (n.186/2007, of May 10) signed by several ministers and secretaries of State, such as Paulo Campos, responsible of public works, whose objective was to discipline “the construction, expansion or modification and the certification and operation of airport infrastructures”.
According to the diploma, the lack of a favorable opinion “from all the councils of the potentially affected municipalities” translates into a “preliminary denial”, that is, the denial of the request by the regulator, as announced today.
In the case of Montijo, the mayors of Moita and Seixal have spoken out against the project, both elected by the CDU.
At the beginning of November of last year, and after having come to defend the change of law to proceed with the Montijo project, the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, admitted that he did not close the door to conducting an environmental assessment. strategy (EAE) of the construction project of a new airport in the Lisbon region.
In Parliament, and in response to a question from the PAN deputy, Inês de Sousa Real, the minister affirmed that the covid-19 pandemic had relieved the pressure on the Humberto Delgado airport, in Portela, giving “some time” to reflect on “the possibility of strategic environmental assessment,” said the then minister.
A few weeks later, and after the proposals for changes to the State Budget for 2021 presented by the PAN and the Greens and supported by the Socialist deputies, it was defined that the Government should carry out this year “a strategic environmental assessment that affirms the different options for location of airport responses ”.
