The government will re-evaluate projects that may not be completed on time, such as the Lisbon metro project, to avoid losing funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), it was announced on Tuesday.
“Our goal is to maximize the return on the PRR money and, of course, to reorganize everything that needs to be reorganized, and for the European Union to open us up to investment projects that can be redistributed so as not to lose the funds we have,” said Helder Reis, Secretary of State for Regional Planning and Development, in Faro.
There are works whose implementation deadlines are “difficult to achieve” and which “need” to be re-evaluated, noted the person in charge, speaking on the sidelines of the signing of the Development and Territorial Cohesion Contract concerning the Algarve.
“We shouldn’t have the illusion today that we are capable, and then, in the end, prove ourselves incapable and not get the share that concerns them,” he said.
While assuring that there are no projects “that will fall apart in principle”, Helder Reis stressed that the question is to understand whether there are projects whose expected completion date under the PRR programme is short.
A government official addressed the Lisbon metro expansion project, asking: “Can we redesign it differently, can we rethink it differently?”
“Of course, is the metro important? Of course, the metro is important. Is the Pisan dam important? Of course, it is important. The desalination plant [para o Algarve] “Is it important? Of course it is. It is all important, the problem is that we have to manage resources the same way we manage them at home. Resources are limited, but desires are unlimited, and that is why we have to do this management,” he added.
On the other hand, there are also projects whose volume, originally envisaged in the PDP, built at a time when “the problems Europe faced were different from today,” he stressed, may prove insufficient for their completion.
“The inflationary process that we are experiencing and the way it has affected, for example, construction, has meant that in some areas the estimates made under the PDP are not sufficient to carry out the work that we have to do,” explained Helder Reis.
The Secretary of State for Regional Planning and Development did not want to stick to the calendar for reviewing projects, considering it “premature” to talk about dates.
“The only thing I can commit to is that we will work hard to achieve this as soon as possible and maximize the PRR return for our country,” he stressed.
Environmental organisation ZERO on Monday called on the government to implement the Lisbon metro expansion project in stages, avoiding the loss of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), and invest in the electrification of public road transport.
The PRR funding includes an investment in the Lisbon Metro of €400 million to extend the Red Line from São Sebastião to Alcântara and €250 million in the new Purple Line (light rail) that will connect the Beatriz Ángelo Hospital from Odivelas to Loures, for a total of €650 million.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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