Porto, Portugal, Sept. 19, 2025 (Lusa) - The European Investment Bank told the Lusa news agency on Friday that it financed the Portuguese TGV high-speed railway line based on the proposal that met the specifications of the public tender, while the winning consortium wants to make changes after signing the concession.
"The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed its financing agreement to support the construction of the first phase of the Porto-Lisbon high-speed rail line based on the tender proposal submitted by the winning consortium," said an official source at the EIB today in response to questions from Lusa.
For the EIB, the bid initially submitted by the consortium "reflects the depth and specifications approved during the public tender process and set out in the project's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)".
"Any material change to the project would require a formal review by the lenders and relevant authorities," the same source told Lusa.
The EIB also points out that it is part of its "due diligence and financing process to apply rigorous assessment standards and strictly adhere to its environmental, social and procurement guidelines to ensure that all financed projects remain aligned with European Union policy objectives and the legal framework."
On 1 September, the AVAN Norte consortium (formerly LusoLAV: Mota-Engil, Teixeira Duarte, Alves Ribeiro, Casais, Conduril and Gabriel Couto) told Lusa that it will propose the Gaia high-speed station south of Santo Ovídio and two bridges over the Douro River instead of a road-rail bridge, solutions that differ from those set out in the specifications.
The concession contract for the high-speed line, signed on 29 July and published on the Base portal on Wednesday, also establishes a single road-rail bridge over the Douro River and that the Gaia station will be in Santo Ovídio.
The location of the Gaia high-speed station in Santo Ovídio, with connections to the two metro lines (Yellow and Ruby), and the solution of a road-rail bridge over the Douro River, decisions that the construction consortium now wants to change, have been planned since September 2022, when the high-speed line project was first presented.
On 2 September, the minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, said he was unaware of the alternative proposal for the Gaia station and the two-bridge solution proposed by the high-speed construction consortium, but considered it "important to clarify" the issue in legal terms.
After the contract was awarded in October 2024, the consortium released a video showing the Santo Ovídio station and a road-rail bridge. In April, it presented an alternative solution that was not included in the specifications, with the station in Vilar do Paraíso and two bridges instead of one.
On 16 April, the Government assured that "any possible changes must be fully safeguarded from a legal point of view, be in full accordance with the requirements of the specifications and ensure the agreement of the local authorities", recalling that the project "is based on the solution presented in the proposal by the LusoLav consortium, winner of the tender, which was in line with the preliminary project presented by the country's road and rail infrastructure managing company, IP", with a station in Santo Ovídio and a connection to the Yellow Metro Line, and a single bridge.
In April, the consortium's own representatives admitted to the Gaia city council that they had "formal concerns" about their entry in the public tender, and said that they may even become more expensive, also asking for something important "in formal and legal terms", not to be referred to as “alternatives”, fearing that such a discourse could "be detrimental in the final battle", according to Rui Guimarães.
"We are going to need your [local authority] support. Let's all go to IP, let's go to the environment agency, APA, so that they can approve this type of solution, I am referring more to the station," said Jorge Rodrigues, another representative.
The Porto-Oiã section of the high-speed rail line received €875 million in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the largest individual contract signed under InvestEU.
The cost of building the section between Porto and Oiã amounts to €1.661 billion (current value of availability payments).
In 2024, the EIB approved a €3 billion financing package, with the first tranche of €875 million aimed at the construction of the Porto-Campanhã - Oiã (Oliveira do Bairro, Aveiro) section.
In addition to the EIB loan, partially guaranteed by the InvestEU programme, the project will also benefit from €900 million in additional financing from various national and international financial institutions, €480 million in grants under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and €150 million in co-financing from IP.
JE/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
