LUSA 07/30/2025

Lusa - Business News - Portugal: First stretch of high-speed line receives €875M funding from EIB

Almada, Portugal, July 29, 2025 (Lusa) - The Porto-Oiã section of the high-speed rail line has received €875 million in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the government announced on Tuesday, noting that this represents the largest individual contract signed under InvestEU.

In a statement, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing announced this ‘record’ financing to support the construction of that section.

The parties signed the contract for the so-called PPP1 (public-private partnership) for phase 1 of the Porto-Lisbon link, scheduled for 2030, today, with the Government, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) and the company Avan Norte - Gestão da Ferrovia de Alta Velocidade, formed by the LusoLAV consortium, at the IP premises in Almada, Setúbal district.

At the signing ceremony for the concession contract and the EIB financing contract, IP President Miguel Cruz described today as a historic day, marking the start of high-speed investment in the country and the beginning of “the essential transformation of rail transport”, which will “stimulate the competitiveness of the Portuguese economy and open up new opportunities for regional and national economic development”.

The vice-president of IP, Carlos Fernandes, explained that between the signing of the PPP1 concession contract and the start of operations, around 60 months will elapse for the completion of projects, expropriations, construction and testing.

Carlos Fernandes thanked the six Portuguese companies that make up the LusoLAV consortium - Mota-Engil, Teixeira Duarte, Alves Ribeiro, Casais, Conduril and Gabriel Couto - for “believing in the country” and going ahead with a bid involving “almost €2 billion in private financing from the concessionaire”.

He also thanked former Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos for his “courage” in talking about high-speed rail in Portugal. “It is thanks to him, to the impetus he gave us, that we are here today,” said Carlos Fernandes, who also thanked the current government for its “commitment and support”.

The Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, highlighted the “enormous national consensus” that exists around this railway project.

“For our part, this consensus is here to stay, and we can achieve the dream of a closer, more cohesive country only if we maintain it,” said the minister.

On behalf of Avan Norte, Carlos Mota Santos assured that the consortium, now transformed into a concessionaire, will be “strongly committed to ensuring that the contribution of Portuguese companies continues beyond Oiã”.

MPE/ADB // ADB.

Lusa