Railways and ports need up to €5 billion worth of investment if Portugal is to forge ahead economically. These are the findings of a working group, set up to pinpoint key areas for investment.
Delivering its conclusions to Prime Minister Passos Coelho this week, the GT IEVA – standing for ‘working group for high-value infrastructures’ – stressed the need for 30 essential major works to aid the country’s economic growth.
Outlined in Dinheiro Vivo online, these include the creation of a deep water terminal in Lisbon, the conclusion of the high-speed rail-link between Sines and Spain, and a new cargo terminal for Lisbon airport.
Other important investments include the modernisation of the Linha do Norte railway, the Linha do Sul, the Algarve line (in desperate need of an upgrade), the Cascais link and the Aveiro-Vilar Formoso corridor.
All together, the works would cost an estimated €5.1 billion, of which the majority (€3.1 billion) could be financed by community funds, says the group.
The public sector could stump up for much of the rest (€1.4 billion), with the private sector making up the €543 million shortfall.
As the group pointed out, infrastructure degradation and the lack of efficient links from ports and production centres to Europe are key stumbling blocks in the way of economic growth needing “urgent action”.
Working group leader José Eduardo Carvalho stressed that all the proposed structural works needed to be in place and fully operational by 2020.
