According to the final report published this Monday, the Independent Technical Commission (CTI) considers a single solution for the new Lisbon airport in Alcochete or Vendas Novas to be the most “globally beneficial”.
In the conclusions of the environmental report published this Monday, CTI states that “the strategic options for a single solution are those that appear most favorable in global terms,” pointing to the hypotheses of Alcocete and Vendas Novas.
But he highlights the “financial advantage of dual solutions based on the maintenance of Humberto Delgado Airport (AHD)” and the construction of new infrastructure in both Alcochete and Vendas Novas.
CTI’s recommendations note that Humberto Delgado + Santarem “could be a solution” after that option was ruled out in a preliminary report.
In this decision, the commission calls Santarem “a complementary airport to AHD (Humberto Delgado), but with a limited number of flights, which does not allow the airport to provide the necessary capacity in the long term.”
“This will have the advantage of overcoming the conditions created by the concession agreement in the short term, with the added benefit of private financing,” he emphasizes, also pointing to the advantage of “territorial cohesion at the national level, especially in the Central region, although with less benefits for the Lisbon region.”
The Commission has “doubts regarding the speed of implementation” and believes that “a solution for Santarem as a single infrastructure would not be viable” “due to existing military aviation restrictions that prevent it from becoming a single alternative airport for AHD.”
CTI notes that the Vendas Novas option “presents fewer advantages in terms of proximity” to the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) as well as “implementation time,” stating that “more studies are needed, as well as more expropriations.”
Vendas Novas “has greater environmental benefits with less impact on bird movement corridors and groundwater resources, although it has similar impacts on cork oak forest sites and surface water resources.”
This decision “could also contribute to increasing territorial cohesion at the national level, especially in the Alentejo region, with the possibility of extending to the Lisbon region”, it can also be read.
The Alcochete and Vendas Novas decisions require deactivation of the Alcochete shooting range, which represents an “additional burden” for Vendas Novas.
The publication of the final report on the options for the location of the new Lisbon airport was scheduled for March 22, but this Monday the CTI announced in a statement that it had decided to push forward with the publication “for reasons of transparency” and it is available on the website aeroparticipa.pt.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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