Infrastructure Minister maintains priority on Lisbon metro expansion even without PRR

The Minister of Infrastructure said in Parliament this Wednesday that the Lisbon Metro may not meet the deadlines of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), but that priority will still be maintained in the expansion of the Red Line.

At a hearing of the Economy, Public Works and Housing Committee, Miguel Pinto Luz said that “the Lisbon metro has become a huge problem” and that he considered “the possibility of the PRR failing” to receive European funds. Earlier, a government official said that the lawsuit could cause the Lisbon metro to miss the PRR deadline.

A government official said the public interest was called upon to speed up the process and that even if Metro ran out of PRR funds, it would “maintain priority over the Red Line.” “Of course I do,” he said.

This Wednesday, the president of the National Commission for Monitoring the PRR (CNA-PRR), Pedro Dominguinhos, said in a press conference that the extension of the Lisbon metro network to Alcântara (one of the investments planned in the PRR) would be “materially impossible.” “It will be completed by the end of 2026.

The expansion includes four new stations, and the contractual deadline for completion is the end of 2026, which “makes it financially impossible to complete the work within the known timeframe,” the manager suggested.

Dominguinhos explained that “this investment faced two legal challenges that have now been resolved and work has been ongoing on the ground since May,” suffering several setbacks.

The works cover a length of approximately four kilometres and four new stations: Campolide/Amoreiras, Campo de Ourique, Infante Santo and Alcântara. The Alcântara station will connect to the future sustainable intermodal line, providing connections to the municipality of Oeiras (LIOS Oeste).