ANA Aeroportos guarantees that it is making efforts to shorten the construction schedule for the new airport in Alcochete so that the infrastructure is operational before the deadline presented in the proposal submitted to the Government.
“For me, I would like [o novo aeroporto estivesse a funcionar] in 2035. Let’s say 2035/2036. We will see if there are no precautionary measures and if environmentalists [não vêm contestar] . We are talking about an idyllic setting”, said this Wednesday, 3rd, José Luís Arnaut.
The chairman of the country’s airport management, who spoke on a panel during the 50th Congress of the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT), taking place this week in Macau, assumed that the schedule indicated to the Executive for the entry into operation of the Luís de Camões, at the Alcochete Shooting Range, was “a safety valve”. In other words, ANA came up with a longer date to safeguard itself.
“The deadline in our proposal is 2037, for a very simple reason: it was necessary to have some safety valves, it is not a binding deadline. We are working with the Government to reduce the deadlines and there is work that can be done simultaneously, it is not necessary to finish one thing to start another. Let’s anticipate, let’s accelerate and we will have Alcochete up and running as quickly as possible because it is in the interests of the country and our shareholder”, he assured.
Arnaut recalled that next January, ANA will deliver the environmental impact study to the Executive, on which the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) will subsequently have three months to comment and, after this period, the document will be under public discussion for another six months. The president of the ANA board of directors highlighted that “there are a series of complex legal procedures and procedures” that must be followed and that without the study the work could start within a year and a half.
“If it weren’t for the issue of the environmental study, the work could start in 18 months. There are a set of requirements to be met, but there is a great desire and we are working with sometimes divergent positions, but with the national interest above all else. Whatever we can cut short, we will cut back and start the work as quickly as possible. Once the work has started, then we will see what the final deadline is”, he continued.
Accessibility is another of the crucial issues that condition the implementation of future infrastructure, also pointed out the chairman of the company owned by the French company Vinci.
“We are talking about an airport that is five times larger than Humberto Delgado and this airport also has to have access because you cannot build an airport without, possibly, a Third Tagus Crossing (TTT) or without rail access. We will have an airport 41 kilometers from the city center, therefore, we need to be aware that without accessibility there is no airport”, he warned.
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