Parliament recommends that the government launch a tender for the construction of the first section of the TGV by the end of January

On Tuesday, the Assembly of the Republic approved the PS’s recommendation to the government to launch a tender for the construction of the first section of the Porto-Lisbon high-speed line by the end of January, only with Chegi abstaining.

The draft resolution of the PS, which received positive votes from all other judges and deputies, recommends “developing steps leading to the launch of a competition for the construction of the Porto-Lisbon high-speed line.”

In particular, the Socialists recommend that the government “take all necessary steps to launch the tender for the construction of the first section of the Porto-Lisbon high-speed line (LAV) before the deadline for applications to the Connecting Europe Fund (CEF). )”, January 30.

According to the government, 750 million euros will be transferred exclusively to Portugal in community funds if the outgoing Portuguese chief executive fulfills the minimum political conditions for presenting a successful candidacy in Brussels by the 30th of this month.

The draft PS resolution also recommends that the government “continue the work necessary to launch the next Porto-Lisbon LAV tenders in order to maintain the viability of completing this project within the announced time frame.”

The SDP announced on Tuesday morning that it would vote in favor of the PS resolution as it would “never be an obstacle” to development, but handed over to the government “sole responsibility” for the technical and financial decisions of the project.

“Years have passed between government announcements and concrete implementation, and very little is known about the funding model and nothing about the components of the competition, its technical and legal conditions. The position taken by the PSD today does not imply respect either for the competition materials or for the technical or financial solutions of this public-private partnership,” the party emphasized, taking the position taken by Luza Vice-President Miguel Pinto Luz.

The PSD position “is linked exclusively to the need to strengthen the Lisbon-Porto railway axis, with the technical, legal and financial solution being the exclusive responsibility of the Socialist Party,” the Social Democrats say. Even before the vote in parliament, Prime Minister Antonio Costa marked the “historic day” of the parties’ approval of the high-speed rail project, announcing that a public tender would be launched next week and hailing the “democratic maturity” of the process.

As a result of the debates planned by the PS on the topic “New railway connections,” a total of four more resolutions (without the force of law) on the same topic were approved: two from the PKP, which contained a request to “meet the needs of the population.” and local authorities must be satisfied taking into account the impact of the Porto-Lisbon high-speed line” and, among other things, the completion of the Porto-Lisbon high-speed line must be accelerated and “the public-private partnership model of development of the work must be abandoned.”

A draft BE resolution was also approved, asking that the construction of a high-speed route take into account “the concerns of local authorities and affected populations” and “that the cost of a national rail pass be reduced to €40”, and another project from Livre to resume international night trains between Portugal and Spain.

The only recommendations rejected were PAN’s recommendations to establish a working group to assess “the implementation of measures to protect and maintain cork and holm oak areas in the implementation of railway investment projects”, as well as another one calling for an extension of the deadline for Portugal. candidacy “to guarantee the possibility of a national candidacy after the commencement of the work of the XVI Legislative Assembly.”