Portugal will break new investment records in coming years

Portugal will reach successively new investment records in the coming years, the prime minister has said, in a speech in which he highlighted the strategic importance of the Sines industrial and logistics area.

António Costa was speaking on Wednesday at the end of a session on the expansion project of the Sines industrial complex, with two new industrial units of Repsol Polímeros – an investment, in this first phase, of €657 million.

“In June 2025, these factories will be producing and exporting polymers,” the leader of the executive said, with the ministers of foreign affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, of infrastructure, João Galamba, of the economy, António Costa Silva, and of the environment, Duarte Cordeiro, as well as the Spanish ambassador listening to him.

The prime minister then stressed that “this is the largest industrial investment of the last ten years”.

“Last year a new record was achieved and we are on course for successive investment records to be achieved in the coming years. We cannot be satisfied with the investment already made, we have to continue working so that the investment potential may continue”, he stated.

In this session, part of the first of two days of the ” Closer Government” initiative, dedicated to the district of Setúbal, António Costa stressed that the port of Sines is “one of the largest in Europe and, certainly, the one with the best location for all traffic in the South Atlantic, on the Cape route and with convergences with the Mediterranean routes”.

“This logistics system is complemented by the new railway line, which will come into full operation early next year and which will allow Repsol, for example, to export what it produces by train to Tarragona and from there to the whole of Europe. This is an extremely important infrastructure,” he said.

Also according to the prime minister, Sines should become “one of the biggest centres of renewable energy production”.

“And this is one of the great factors in attracting new industries. This Repsol investment is one of the best examples of what decarbonisation of industry is. The chemical industry is heavily energy consuming, but Repsol will develop a hydrogen project and ensure recyclable and green polymers,” he added.