Metro OdivelasLoures Is Already Half a Year Late and 140 Million More Expensive

The construction of the light surface metro between Odivelas and Loures is expected to cost 390 million euros and not the 250 million foreseen in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) The so-called violet line of the lisbon metropolitan system is one of two investments in a critical state, according to the assessment of the national monitoring commission (CNA), and the Government now recognizes that the project is already six months behind schedule.

At a joint conference of the ministers responsible for the Funds, Economy and Environment portfolios, and who called the press to respond to the PRR assessment report in 2022 released on Wednesday, the head of the Environment admitted that, given the increase of the estimated costs at 56%, the Government will be forced to find other sources of financing " because the initial project envisaged a light metro entirely on the surface but the project put up for public discussion envisages three underground stations, "which naturally makes the work more expensive".

"There is a delay of about a semester, we have an environmental impact study that was submitted on August 31, 2022 and which was in public consultation until February 14 We believe, if the environmental impact statement is favorable, that we will be in conditions to launch, in the first half of 2023, the procedure for contracting the contract and rolling stock", he also countered.

Porto "saved" 20 million This work is very different from the "metrobus" in Porto, whose work began this month But the comparison between expected and awarded prices shows how timely tenders can avoid cost overruns, especially if you avoid the period of rising inflation.

The tender for the "metrobus" in Porto had an initial estimate of 45 million euros It was launched in 2021 and allowed the work to be delivered for 25 million, in January 2022.

This saved 20 million, before the war in Ukraine, compared to the initial estimate And this savings gave room to expand the initially planned service, adding four kilometers of track, with an extension to Matosinhos.

In the case of the Lisbon violet line, the PRR only provided for the signing of the project execution contract in the first quarter of 2023 Now, at best, according to the Minister of the Environment, the tender will be open by June.

Regarding the missing 140 million, "the Government will want the tender to run for the entire project, The violet line is associated with a milestone of the fourth request for payment of the PRR, relative to the current semester, and whose amount will be requested until September 30; to a second milestone of the sixth payment request (referring to the first half of 2024 and which will be requested by September 30 of that year) and to a target, referring to the completion of the work (in the second half of 2025), which is part of the ninth request for payment, to be requested by March 31, 2026 In the rest of the conference, the other two ministers tried to respond in more detail to the specific assessment that the CNA made of the other 13 investments in a worrying state and one in a critical state that were identified by this independent assessment body.

The three rulers recognized the pertinence of this work and, in short,.