Lisbon, March 12, 2026 (Lusa) - The Lisbon city council plans to build another eight kilometres (km) of cycle paths by 2027, as well as planning around 23 km, according to the PSD/CDS-PP/IL ruling coalition's proposal, with votes against from PS, Livre, BE and Chega.
In a private meeting on Wednesday, the municipal council discussed the proposed Mandate Contract for the Construction of Cycle Paths 2026/2027, to be signed with EMEL - the Lisbon Municipal Mobility and Parking Company, for a total amount of €6.32 million.
The document, which still has to be submitted to the Municipal Assembly, was approved with the votes in favour of PSD/CDS-PP/IL and the independent Ana Simões Silva (formerly Chega), who together govern with an absolute majority, and the abstention of the PCP, a source at the city council told Lusa.
At issue is the Mandate Contract for the Construction of Cycle Paths by EMEL, which was first signed in April 2019, when the Lisbon city council was chaired by Fernando Medina (PS), and was extended, first until the end of 2020 and then until the end of 2025.
"Since 1 January 2026, EMEL, without a current mandate but in compliance with its obligations and unable to interrupt ongoing works, has continued with the implementation of cycle path work," reads the proposal signed by the Deputy Mayor, Gonçalo Reis (PSD), who is responsible for Mobility.
The new contract with EMEL for 2026/2027 aims to ensure continued investment in the expansion and improvement of the city's cycle network, maintaining the means and technical capacity to execute, manage and monitor cycle path work, as well as to carry out ongoing maintenance of the existing infrastructure.
In a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, Gonçalo Reis highlighted the council's strategic priority of "building an increasingly connected and comprehensive cycle network capable of reaching a growing number of Lisbon residents, making active mobility safer, more accessible and more present in the city's daily life".
Currently, the cycle network covers 253 km, according to data from the city council up to December 2025.
The approved proposal, according to the deputy mayor, will allow structural work to go ahead throughout this year, "with more than 7 km of new cycling infrastructure completed", notably the 1.2 km Pedrouços Viaduct. Projects are also planned for 2027, including the Alcântara Viaduct, "which will bring the total length to more than 8 km".
The new contract also covers "a set of projects that are fundamental to the future of the network, totalling around 23 km", notably the major riverside axis between Algés and Santa Apolónia, as well as work on Avenida da Índia, Portas de Benfica, Carolina Michaelis, Lumiar and Avenidas Novas.
Opposing the proposal, the PS councillors stated that the new contract "reflects a huge lack of ambition", noting that of the €6.32 million planned, €5.51 ME corresponds to projects that should have been completed by 2025, meaning that only €814,000 is earmarked for new projects, which is "a drop in the ocean" compared to the total amount of €27.49 million allocated to the previous contract.
Livre and BE also stressed that the new contract "drastically reduces" investment in the cycle network, "with a cut of more than 85% by 2027".
Justifying its abstention, the PCP said that the PSD/CDS-PP/IL proposal "is bad because it is very insufficient" for the development of the cycle path network, but argued that rejection "would mean that even the little that this contract provides for would not be done".
The Chega councillors spoke out against the expansion of the cycle "network, which it considers to be the result of "ideological drift’, and advocated the removal of 75% of existing cycle paths, accusing all the other parties represented in the Chamber of being "fanatical about cycle paths".
SSM/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
