Environmental report “endorses” new airport in Alcochete, which is “moving at cruising speed”

The Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, stated this Wednesday in Parliament that the Environmental Report for the future Luís de Camões Airport validates the location at Campo de Tiro de Alcochete, an Air Force Shooting Range.

“The preliminary environmental report is very clear. It is no longer the Independent Technical Commission that you are pointing the finger at. Other national and international bodies have once again validated the location both environmentally and technically”, said the minister during a parliamentary hearing at the Committee on Infrastructure, Mobility and Housing.

Miguel Pinto Luz was responding to questions from Chega (a far-right party), which referred to a report in an English-language publication suggesting that the airport’s location was situated above the “largest aquifer reserve” on the Iberian Peninsula and highlighting the impact on construction costs.

On 16 January, ANA submitted the first environmental report on the new airport, in accordance with the timetable set by the Government and the concession agreement. The concessionaire stated at the time that the study was the result of “in-depth work, carried out over the course of a year by more than 60 highly specialised technicians, and that it focuses on various environmental issues, such as water resources, noise, ecological systems, air quality and public health”. The report has not yet been made available.

Miguel Pinto Luz also cited “the consensus that has been reached regarding the location of the new airport”, involving the former Prime Minister, António Costa, the former Minister for Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, and the current Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro. “We have made a commitment for decades”, he emphasised.

Regarding the costs that may have to be borne by the State, the minister repeated the assurance he has been giving: “we will not put a single euro from the State Budget into the new airport”. The infrastructure works are to be financed entirely by ANA, namely through airport charges, but there are expenses, such as access roads, which will be a public responsibility.

In his opening remarks, Pinto Luz stated that “both the process for the new Lisbon airport and that of TAP’s privatisation are proceeding at cruising speed, without any major setbacks or incidents worth noting”.

ANA’s initial estimate for the cost of the infrastructure is €8.5 billion. The timetable suggests that the future Luís de Camões Airport will be operational by 2037.