The Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) will be reconfigured with the construction of the new airport, starting with the creation of accessibility such as the Third Tagus Crossing or the new high-speed line. “The AML will change a lot, and not just the municipality of Benavente, several other territories will have changes. These changes, from a broad perspective, can only be good because AML has been growing poorly and one of the reasons is that it is growing in the absence of planning. A new airport will not be built to destroy territory, but to create territory”, pointed out Maria do Rosário Partidário.
Planning, Rosário Macário also argued, is a key part of the process. “The airport city is a very attractive concept that many people like to talk about, but it doesn’t appear by miracle. There needs to be strategic planning for the entire region in which it is located. This is one of the main advantages of Alcochete: it has a density and development potential that allows it to have a greater economic impact than other options that have been studied.”, he remembers.
The professor maintains that it is “worrying” that the current focus of the discussion is only based on the airport and not on regional planning. “It is necessary to discuss so that you can benefit from the infrastructure. Otherwise, we will lose the opportunity for all the associated benefits that benefit the region and the country, such as tourism, jobs and services.”, he listed.
Nuno Marques da Costa, professor at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, also followed the same path. “The regional territorial planning plan must be carried out. With the airport comes a complete transformation not only of economic activities, but of several sectors that have to be reorganized. We have to intervene in time in this territory to avoid errors that may arise now and which will be very difficult to resolve in the future”, he warned.
Bernardo Trindade, president of the Portuguese Hotel Association (AHP), lamented that deadlines for the new airport are being discussed without paying attention to Portela’s current constraints.
“We have to look at the current reality and we are not providing tourists with the quality we are used to. The State is failing and it is difficult for me that we are talking about a 12-year period and that we forget what is fundamental, which is meeting current needs. We want answers today“, he requested.
The businessman pointed the finger at the long queues at the border that have left passengers stranded for several hours in the last week due to problems implementing the new European system for automated control of external borders, the Entry/Exit System (EES).
“Controlling people’s access to Portugal is the image that we are transporting throughout the world. Every time we fail, what we are showing as a country is that we are incapable of organizing ourselves“, he reiterated.
“What is currently happening at Lisbon airport is a clear demonstration of how the State has failed and fails daily. Monopoly sectors, such as airports, should not be concessioned”, he reinforced.
The Mobi Summit is an initiative organized by Diário de Notícias, Dinheiro Vivo, Jornal de Notícias, Motor24 and TSF.
The post “There are conditions for the airport to be operational in 2031, if it’s not happening it’s because someone doesn’t want it” appeared first on Veritas News.
