Metro Mondego, responsible for the Mondego Mobility System (SMM), executed 49.8% of what it had programmed for 2022, a figure similar to the execution rate recorded in 2021.
According to the 2022 Report and Accounts consulted by the Lusa agency, Metro Mondego had an execution rate of 49.8%, “much lower than projected”, said the entity responsible for the SMM, which is expected to start operating in 2024, between Serpins (Lousã) and Coimbra.
“It should be noted that two limitations in 2022 contributed greatly to this differential, but not exclusively. Firstly, we highlight the delays in the publication of the RCM [resolution of the Council of Ministers] that authorized structural investments, which helps to explain, consequently, a very significant delay in the consignment of the construction contract for the PMO [Material and Workshop Park] and in the award of the supply of rolling stock “, justified Metro Mondego.
In addition to the delays in the publication of the Council of Ministers’ resolution, the entity also pointed out as factors that contributed to the low execution rate “the delays in the execution of the Baixa de Coimbra contract”.
In the message of the president of Metro Mondego, present in the document, João Marrana also highlighted the difficulties associated with the “very adverse situation” in the face of the war in Ukraine.
Despite the constraints, he stressed that 2022 “was, beyond any doubt, one of the periods in the history of the SMM when there was more intense activity”.
“We believe that, with the progressive implementation of these interventions, the inhabitants of the Coimbra region are finally beginning to believe in this project, which is of vital importance for the quality of life of the population, for the development of the territory and for global sustainability”, said João Marrana in the Annual Report recently published on Metro Mondego’s website.
The president also stressed that 2023 will also be marked by the start of the process of hiring human resources necessary for the operation of the system, the launch of tenders for infrastructure maintenance, vehicle cleaning, passenger inspection and advertising concession.
“Equally relevant is the path that will be necessary to offer a common intermodal tariff, a ‘sine qua non’ condition to maximize the impact of the SMM on regional mobility,” he said.
The SMM consists of the implementation of dedicated track sections (with some exceptions in Coimbra), where electric buses will run on the old Lousã railway branch, closed in January 2010, and in the urban area of Coimbra, connecting this city to Serpins, in the municipality of Lousã, passing through Miranda do Corvo, over a length of 42 kilometers.
The operation on the suburban section should start in June 2024 and in the city of Coimbra at the end of that same year.
