A video shared on social media by the Mayor of Oeiras, Isaltino Morais (independent), has sparked controversy after he accused the concessionaire Brisa of rejecting a municipal project for the construction of a viaduct connecting National Road 249-3 (from Cacém to Paço de Arcos), near Taguspark, to Highway 5 (A5).
“Brisa, in its greed, thinks we’re still in the same situation as 40 years ago when the A5 was built. The Municipality even offered to cover the costs of the project, but Brisa still refused,” stated the mayor.
In response to Isaltino Morais’s accusations, Brisa’s CEO António Pires de Lima explained that the Oeiras Council project was not executed as it was not approved by the Instituto de Mobilidade Terrestre (IMT).
“Brisa cannot undertake a project for a highway access or viaduct that hasn’t been approved by our regulatory body. All projects we execute must have IMT approval,” emphasized António Pires de Lima.
The Brisa executive also noted that three solutions, technically feasible and IMT-approvable, were proposed to the Oeiras Municipality, which were turned down.
“Brisa formally presented, with my signature over a year ago, three solutions that would be approvable by IMT and technically feasible to address the issues raised by Oeiras’ mayor,” he highlighted.
António Pires de Lima urged the Oeiras mayor to avoid “persisting in an unjustified critical discourse, pushing for a technically unfeasible project.”
In a written response to Lusa, an Oeiras Municipality source confirmed that Brisa sent “a set of three proposals” in 2023, but claimed they were “inadequate for the area’s mobility needs.”
“The Municipality presented a solution considered unfeasible by Brisa, despite the local government’s willingness to bear the technical study and project execution costs, estimated at about eight million euros. We still don’t understand why Brisa and IMT consider this solution unfeasible,” stated the municipality.
The Oeiras executive leadership also deemed it “incomprehensible” that Brisa’s proposals “completely ignored basic common sense,” proposing solutions that “consume the entire surrounding urban area without resolving Oeiras’ mobility issues that require an urban-profile highway.”
“It’s also incomprehensible that the IMT adheres to bureaucratic choices without explaining their conclusions or fulfilling their role as a public entity responsible in this area, including their refusal to meet with Oeiras’ mayor,” added the municipality.
