The Vice-Chairman of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), Carlos Fernandes, has announced that for the Porto – Soure rail section, first one of Porto – Lisbon HSL project will launch a public-private partnership (PPP) procedure in January 2024.
The announcement was made during a presentation of the first section between Porto and Soure at the headquarters of the Order of Engineers (OERN) in Porto.
“We are working with the UATP, the Technical Project Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Finance, in order to launch the first PPP in January of next year, this is the commitment we have with the Government”, Carlos Fernandes said during the session presentation of the Porto – Lisbon HSR project, focused mainly on the Porto – Soure section, in the North Regional Section of the Order of Engineers.
The representative of Infraestruturas de Portugal explained that the project of the high-speed rail line will be implemented into three main sections covering the Porto – Oiã, Oiã – Soure and Soure – Carregado, which will be implemented through PPP.
For Porto – Oiã section, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is expected to be issued in August. This section is expected to have the highest costs as the line will be mostly constructed on viaducts and in tunnels. The design and construction of the Porto – Soure rail section is scheduled to be carried out from 2024 to 2028. The construction works for Porto – Soure section are estimated at EUR 3 billion with EUR 1 billion expected to be co-financed through the Connecting Europe Facility.
The Oiã – Soure section is still under public consultation and its EIS would be released in this autumn. When EIS for each of these sections will be approved, Infraestruturas de Portugal will launch tenders for each section to be implemented in PPP.
The second section of Porto – Lisbon HSL involves the Soure – Carregado section expected to be implemented in 2026 – 2030 while the connection from Carregado to Lisbon (the third phase of the project) will be developed after 2030.
The high-speed railway linking Porto and Lisbon is estimated at EUR 4.5 billion with transport services expected to begin from 2028 until 2030.
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