Lisbon, Dec. 17, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's minister of finance said on Tuesday that it was the government's intention that the burden on taxpayers from the construction of Lisbon's new airport should be "as limited as possible" and that he would analyse what ANA's initial report predicts.
In a ‘symbolic ceremony’ to mark the delivery of the document with ANA (the airport concessionaire's) conditions for the construction of new Luís de Camões Airport, at the Alcochete Shooting Range, without the right to questions from journalists, the minister of finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, said that the government is looking for "the burden on the state budget to be as limited as possible, if possible even without any impact on taxpayers"
"We'll see what the report says about that," emphasised the minister, guaranteeing that the executive will "always act in the pursuit of the public interest".
The CEO of the country's airports operator ANA, José Luís Arnaut, and the executive chairman, Thierry Ligonnière, today handed the Minister for Housing and Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, and the Minister of Finance the initial report for the formal start of negotiations with the government for the construction of the new airport, which the government now has 30 days to analyse.
Miranda Sarmento emphasised that the largest infrastructure the country has ever built, in terms of volume and price, will, after the document is analysed, be the responsibility of an international private group, considering that this shows that the country is now attractive to foreign investment, as is also shown by the interest shown in buying TAP.
"We will analyse [the report], we will certainly still have a long way to go to discuss technical details and make an assessment, but it is very important for Portugal that this decision has been made and that this partnership is consolidated," added the minister of finance, praising the work done by ANA/VINCI.
ANA, owned by French group VINCI, which won the management of Portugal's airports in 2012 in a 50-year concession, had submitted a proposal to build a new airport at Montijo Air Base (Setúbal district).
In May, the government approved the construction of a new airport for the Lisbon region at the Alcochete Shooting Range, following the recommendation of the Independent Technical Commission (CTI).
In 2025, according to the proposed state budget, the government will go ahead with carrying out ‘basic studies’ to support the technical solutions for implementing the new airport.
The government estimates that Luís de Camões Airport will be operational in 2034, which is less optimistic than the CTI, which pointed to the completion of the first runway in 2030 and a total cost of €6.105 billion.
As for the cost, the government also believes that the CTI is too optimistic, and estimates that it will be somewhere between the figure indicated by the commission led by Rosário Partidário and the €8bn to €9bn estimated by ANA Aeroportos.
Miguel Pinto Luz guaranteed that the government is committed to ensuring that the costs of the new airport do not affect the state budget, believing that it will be possible to pay for the investment with "the resources released by the concession, until the end of the concession".
MPE/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
