Lisbon, Dec. 23, 2025 (Lusa) - The executive director of the Portuguese Construction Foundation and former leader of the Order of Engineers, Carlos Mineiro Alves, argued that the new Lisbon airport and high-speed railway must "be implemented quickly" because too much time has already been lost.
"We cannot have a country that is lagging behind. We have already lost a lot of time on fundamental issues such as the new Lisbon airport and the high-speed railway," he said, adding that "the government's decisions on both projects must be implemented quickly so that the Portuguese people can see that they are not just announcements."
Describing the situation at Lisbon's current airport as "third world", he criticised the fact that the airport's capacity is "greatly exceeded" and there is no possibility of “expansion”. "It's unspeakable," he summarised.
"The interests of the country cannot be confused with the interests of concessionaires," he added.
Carlos Mineiro Aires resigned on September 30, 2024 as chairman of the Superior Council of Public Works, a government advisory body on infrastructure, and also chaired the Monitoring Committee of the independent technical commission for the expansion of airport capacity in the Lisbon region.
Months earlier, in March last year, he said publicly that the prime minister, Luís Montenegro "cannot be susceptible to pressure from a foreign company [ANA] operating in Portugal with a contract that harms national interests". (ANA is the country's airports managing company and is owned by the French group Vinci). At the time, he considered that "the pressure exerted" by José Luís Arnaut, president of ANA, "even seriously limits the prime minister's actions".
Recalling that the financing of the future Luís de Camões airport, estimated by ANA at €8.5 billion, will be ensured by revenue from airport taxes, just as the third crossing of the Tagus will be supported by the concession of the other two bridges, Mineiro Aires adds that "all the conditions are in place for the works to start, but they are not starting because people have begun to discuss minor details".
"The concessionaire is obviously trying to find the solution that is most in its interests and most economical. Anyone who enters that airport [Portela] can see the state it is in and that it cannot last another 13 years", he stressed. (It was 13 years ago that the new airport was first announced).
The former leader also warned against "interim solutions to avoid the inevitable".
"As a citizen, I have the right to think and judge what is obvious to me. We have to work quickly and move things forward. Environmental issues, for example, could already be moving forward," he said, advising the government to "put pressure on ANA".
Noting that the Recovery and Resilience Programme funds will run out in 2026, he also recommended "completing the rail link to Europe via Spain, because the delay is too long".
If he were Minister of Infrastructure, he said he would not change what is planned, but would do "a lot of planning" in order to know "what is needed, when it will be done, how much it will cost and how the money will be raised. And I would look at the basic needs of citizens, such as housing and mobility. We have a very unbalanced country."
CT/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
