Pedro Nuno Santos says TGV ‘cannot stop progress’

The Socialist General Secretary said this Monday that railways are the future and that progress cannot be “stopped” after hearing criticism about the impact that the location of high-speed train lines would have on local communities.

This afternoon, Pedro Nuno Santos visited the construction work of new housing, financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), in the union of the parishes of Amoreira da Gándara, Paredes do Bairro and Ancas in the municipality of Anadia, Aveiro district.

Right at the entrance, Pedro Nuno Santos was questioned by Lourdes Santos, the secretary of the council of this union of parishes, which belongs to the PSD, like the local city council, and told him that from the top of the buildings under construction, you can see the vineyards where the route of the new high-speed railway line will pass.

“We are 100 meters away. This is a huge destruction of property, this is a huge loss for the population,” he criticized, arguing that it is necessary to “carefully rethink the conditions” for the development of high speeds.

“We know that. This happened when we built the highway, this happens when investments are made, and the railway is the future and we cannot stop this progress, which is very important,” replied Pedro Nuno Santos, who said he was ready to cooperate. with the municipality.

Lourdes Santos insisted that the current route is “very boring” and “traumatic” for those who “put their land and homes at risk,” but Pedro Nuno Santos argued that “efforts must be made.”

“This is what always happens when major public works are carried out. When the highway was built, the same thing happened, and in fact we must move forward: the railway is the future, not the past,” he said, before emphasizing that the purpose of the visit was to show the houses that are being built in the parish, to hear the secretary claim that they are being built only “thanks to the City Council.”

“No. The program was developed by us, it is funded and paid for by us, and this is the work that the local authorities have done,” he replied, adding that this visit is important because “this is the local authority, which is not part of the CoP, but will do this work according to the program developed by the PS government.”

In a conversation with Lusa, Lourdes Santos said she was not satisfied with the responses of the PS Secretary General, stressing that “it is very easy to disagree and disengage”, and criticized the cost of compensation that is provided for the expropriation of land. , given that they do not allow residents to purchase new homes at the current market price.

The TGV was also opposed by the Parish Union Secretary because she believed that “financially and economically the costs did not outweigh the benefits.”

The TGV “doesn’t serve the population here in the area, it serves Lisbon and Porto. “I think that by returning what is there, it would be easier and more profitable, especially because given the strikes that they are holding on trains, we will have the line, but not with those who operate it,” he emphasized.

In the playground adjacent to the sites visited by Pedro Nuno Santos, and visible from the upper floors of the buildings under construction, there were several posters with the words “no to high-speed trains”, “no to the destruction of vineyards” or “no to the destruction of Paul’s Lagoon”.