Coimbra, Portugal, Aug. 6, 2024 (Lusa) - The Coimbra station project will have a 15% weighting in evaluating the proposals in the tender for the public-private partnership (PPP) for the second section of the high-speed line, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) said on Tuesday.
When questioned by the Lusa news agency, IP said that Coimbra Station will have "an absolute weighting of 15%" when evaluating the proposals that will be submitted in the international tender launched at the end of July for the public-private partnership for the second section of the high-speed train line, between Oiã and Soure.
In the case of this section, the quality factor of the proposals will have an overall weighting of 20% (80% for the price factor), with the future Coimbra Intermodal Station representing 75% of this same criterion (15% absolute weighting of the application) and the remaining 25% for the southern access to the same station (5% of the overall evaluation).
In the first section (between Porto and Oiã), for which the tender was launched in January, the quality factor accounted for 30%, which led the civic movement for the Choupal Multimodal Park in Coimbra to claim, in statements to the Público newspaper, that this same factor lost weight in the second section of the high-speed train line.
Speaking to Lusa, an official IP source explained that the stretch between Porto and Oiã involved more interventions, namely two stations (Campanhã, in Porto, and Santo Ovídio, in Vila Nova de Gaia), with 10.5% absolute weighting each, and a new bridge over the Douro, with an absolute weighting of 9%.
Although the weighting applicable to the quality factor has been reduced in this second public tender, "the evaluation of Coimbra station has not suffered any devaluation concerning Porto (Campanhã) or Gaia (Santo Ovídio) stations, on the contrary, since it has been increased from 10.5% to 15%," IP emphasised.
IP also said that the proposals should "follow the urban planning studies of the Coimbra Station Detail Plan" as far as possible".
Although the document accompanying this tender does not correspond to the final version of the Detailed Plan, which has not yet even been approved, nor to the formal public discussion period, it does correspond "to what was made public in this regard by the Coimbra City Council at the public session to present the detailed plan and inaugurate the respective model", IP said.
"The intervention to adapt Coimbra station to high-speed trains is aimed at creating an intermodal station, as mentioned. Its design, which will be the responsibility of the successful tenderer for the Oiã-Soure section concession (PPP2), should, as mentioned, and as far as possible, follow the urban planning studies in the Coimbra Station Detail Plan."
On 26 July, IP launched the international tender for the PPP for the second section of the high-speed line, with bids being submitted until January 2025.
The concession tender, the second to be launched as part of the high-speed train line project between Porto and Lisbon, has a maximum award value of €1.6 billion.
The PPP contract, with a total term of 30 years, "includes a development period, which is estimated to be five years, and a period for making the infrastructure available, with an expected duration of 25 years," said IP.
The model for this second PPP for the high-speed line is identical to the first, launched in January under António Costa (PS).
The launch of the third PPP, corresponding to the Soure - Carregado (Alenquer, Lisbon district) section, is scheduled for January 2026. Before then, it must be put out to public consultation for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The Lisbon-Porto high-speed line is expected to connect the country's two main cities in around one hour and 15 minutes.
According to IP's forecasts, Coimbra will be 50 minutes from Lisbon and 30 minutes from Porto.
JGA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
