Independent Technical Committee presents preliminary report today

The independent commission that is studying the solution for Lisbon’s new airport is presenting on Tuesday a preliminary technical report that will form the basis for the decision and which should be left to the discretion of the new government.

This report is another step in a topic that is more than 50 years old and has already been the subject of several studies.

The government commissioned an independent technical committee (CTI) to analyze five hypotheses for the Lisbon airport solution (Portela + Montijo; Montijo + Portela; Alcochete; Portela + Santarem; Santarem), but predicted that other options could be added.

The CTI, created late last year and located at the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) in Lisbon, has Professor Rosario Partidario as general coordinator and a team of six technical coordinators.

After the first phase of receiving and analyzing other proposals, the options Portela + Alcochete, Portela + Pegoines, Rio Frio + Poseirão and Pegoines were added to the study.

The idea is to evaluate the nine options under consideration according to the five critical decision factors identified by the CTI, namely: aviation safety, accessibility and territory, human health and environmental viability, connectivity and economic development, and model public investment and financing.

The government will have to make a decision based on the scores obtained for the various options being studied under various criteria and reflected in the final report, which is due at the end of the year or early January. which is political and not technical.

Former infrastructure minister Joao Galamba promised a quick decision after analyzing the CTI’s final report, but given the political uncertainty due to the government’s resignation and the calling of early elections, this decision should be left until March.