Despite the instability of international financial markets, and doubts about the sustainability of the Portuguese economy in a scenario of near stagnation in Europe, the Government maintains a mega package of pharaonic works on the agenda. The project that will be most expensive for the country is, precisely, the construction of a new high-speed rail network.
There will be 20 to 25 billion euros at current prices to be paid by Portuguese taxpayers in rent from Public Private Partnerships (PPP) until the end of the 30-year concession.
Since the majority of the network, namely the Lisbon-Porto-Vigo line, will be built in Iberian gauge or distance between rails, and not in European gauge, there will be no minority financing from Brussels, unlike what happened in Spain and is happening in the Baltic countries.
Not only will taxpayers have to pay almost the entire bill in annual PPP income, but the result will be a project of dubious utility, as it will not allow direct access for passenger and freight trains to the European network nor the direct entry of Europeans into Portugal.
But there are more works and public contracts in the pipeline.
Mario Lopesengineer, professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, former president of ADFERSIT (Portuguese Association for the Development of Integrated Transport Systems, and Paulo Morais, mathematician, professor, mayor, president of the Frente Cívica association, former candidate for the Presidency of the Republic and author of several books on combating corruption, are the guests of no .
