The government allowed Metro do Porto to spend 435 million euros on a new line

The government has allowed Metro do Porto to spend up to 435 million euros on the future Rubi (Casa da Música – Santo Ovidio) line, for which a public tender was announced this Wednesday, including a new bridge over the Douro River.

In accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers, which gives rise to the approval, given by electronic means on Monday, of spending and reprogramming charges for the Rubi line and for the “metrobus”, the allocation for the new line rises from 299 million euros to 435 million, and the cost ” metrobus” remains at the level of 66 million.

The resolution, seen by Lusa this Wednesday, justifies the revision of the values ​​after September 2020 by “significant increases” in “labor costs, raw materials, building materials and an equally significant increase in costs. fuel and energy, which directly affect the total estimated cost of the work.

The increase is due to “an exceptional situation in supply chains, the Covid-19 pandemic, the global energy crisis and the aftermath of the war in Ukraine,” the government claims.

“In addition to these factors, there are, namely, compliance with the measures imposed by the environmental impact assessment, the evolution of studies in response to local restrictions and requests from municipalities, the evolution of the project for a new bridge over the Douro River. and verification of the need for unforeseen expropriations”, can also be read in the resolution.

International open tender for the construction of the Rubi line that will connect Casa da Música (Porto) with Santo Ovidio (Vila Nova de Gaia) and will include a new bridge over the Douro River between Campo Alegre (Porto) and Arrábida (Gaia) starts this Wednesday at 14:30 in Alphandega do Porto.

The decree added that costs in excess of those originally envisaged would be covered by the Environment Fund (40 million euros) and “from the state budget.” [OE]”, to the amount of 96 million euros, but “in case of allocation of additional financing” by other means, the amount of MA “reduces accordingly”.

On Friday, Metro do Porto president Thiago Braga said the contract would be “in round figures around 450 million euros” and Environment Minister Duarte Cordeiro announced spending increases that will assess what would be the “best conditions for this financing”: whether PRR, be it subsidized loans, be it the Environment Fund or OE.

In Gaia, the planned stations of the Rubi line are Santo Ovidio, Soares dos Reis, Devexas, Rotunda, Candal and Arrábida, as well as in Porto Campo Alegre and Casa da Mucica, where a new bridge is planned to be built over the Douro River.