Government green lights €331.4M for Lisbon Metro expansion work
The amount initially foreseen, in 2018, for the expansion works of the Lisbon Metro, namely for the extension of the Yellow and Green lines from Rato to Cais do Sodré, was €210.2 million.
The Portuguese government has approved an increase in overall funding for the expansion of the Lisbon Metro to a maximum of €331.4 million, more than €90 million higher than previously planned, according to a resolution published on Friday.
According to the government, the authorised amounts “became insufficient” taking into account the “change in the construction and public works market, combined with the timing of the public procurement procedures concerned”.
The amount initially foreseen, in 2018, for the expansion works of the Lisbon Metro, namely for the extension of the Yellow and Green lines from Rato to Cais do Sodré, was €210.2 million plus VAT, distributed in multi-annual charges, an amount that was updated, in 2021 to €240.2 million.
In the resolution, published today, the government authorises expenditure for the expansion of the metro up to €331.4 million (plus VAT), justifying the decision with the “increase in the costs involved in the implementation of the various projects that are part of this expansion plan”.
The diploma highlights “the difficulties in supply chains” following the pandemic and Covid-19, the global energy crisis and the effects of the war in Ukraine, which caused “an abrupt increase in prices” of raw materials, materials and labour, “with particular emphasis on the construction sector, which generated sudden and unpredictable price growth”.
“In addition, during the course of the construction works, there were several unforeseeable events, such as geological irregularities not detected in the surveys carried out and inconsistencies between the land registry surveys and the surveys that preceded the works, which required temporary evictions, expropriations and reinforcements of existing buildings,” it adds.
To this overall amount there is also funding from European funds of the operational programme for sustainability and efficiency in the use of resources (POSEUR) up to the amount of €103 million, which “may be increased depending on the financial resources of the programme, with a corresponding decrease in the national public contribution, and without prejudice to the overall amount”.
The diploma also provides that funds of €21.4 million will contribute to this expansion plan through the Portuguese state budget (SB) in 2023 and €69.8 million from the SB in 2024.
