Porto, May 2, 2025 (Lusa) - The government has authorised a further €52.9 million in expenditure for Metro do Porto's Ruby Line, bringing the previously authorised amount from €435 million to €487.9 million, it was announced on Friday.
According to a cabinet resolution published in the Diário da República (Official Gazette) on Friday, it authorises Metro do Porto "to incur the expenses related to the investments necessary for the expansion of the Porto Metro Network - Casa da Música-Santo Ovídio (Ruby Line) and the Boavista - Império BRT Line, up to a total amount of €487,985,261.43 and €76,000,000.00 respectively", plus VAT, it said.
The amount for the BRT [i.e. metrobus] remains unchanged from what was previously approved, but the Rubi Line receives an increase of €52.9 million.
The increase, which also implies changes in the amount of expenditure allocated to each year of the project, is due to the "updating of the cost of civil construction, equipment and systems, including signalling and technical systems in the new Command and Control Post, taking into account the high complexity of the contract for the construction of the Rubi Line" and the "verification of higher than estimated price revision coefficients".
The cabinet resolution also authorises Metro do Porto to "incur the costs of maintaining the signalling system for the Ruby Line, considering that it is a highly complex technical system with no experience at national level, for a total amount of €2,450,000.00" plus VAT.
Unlike the Ruby Line contract, which will be funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the State Budget, Metro do Porto's own budget revenue associated with the Ruby Line's operation bears the financial costs of maintaining the signalling system.
With eight stations, the 6.4 kilometre Rubi Line includes a new crossing over the Douro, the D. Antónia Ferreira bridge, Ferreirinha, which will be exclusively reserved for the metro and pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
The Ruby Line's planned stations in Gaia are Santo Ovídio, Soares dos Reis, Devesas, Rotunda, Candal, and Arrábida, and in Porto, Campo Alegre and Casa da Música.
The project has to be completed by the end of 2026, but a source from Metro do Porto has already acknowledged to Lusa that the bridge should only be finished in 2027, mainly because of the finishing touches.
JE/ADB // ADB.
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