In a letter addressed to Miguel Pinto Luz, Porto’s Mayor Rui Moreira expressed surprise over recent statements attributed to government officials, asserting that the city will not bow to central power. The letter, dated Wednesday, highlights Moreira’s accusation of “radicalism” for demanding necessary guarantees in the transfer of the metrobus project to the Sociedade de Transportes Coletivos do Porto (STCP) and for stating that the government cannot blame the municipality for “the successive delays of Metro do Porto.”
The mayor emphasized that the municipality of Porto and the other five municipalities shareholders of STCP reject the idea of their operator taking on the responsibility of the metrobus project, which is complex, delayed, and whose technical and operational feasibility has yet to be demonstrated.
The implementation of the metrobus is contingent on a four-party memorandum of understanding involving the State, Porto City Hall, Metro do Porto, and STCP, which remains unsigned. The draft sent to the municipality, if accepted, would endow the project without any assurances, Moreira contended.
Listing the delays in various Metro do Porto projects, the mayor underscored that the radical aspect of his stance on the metrobus issue is the acknowledgment that Porto’s population will no longer be deceived by the propaganda campaigns of the company overseen by Miguel Pinto Luz.
Approaching the end of his term, Moreira noted that targeting him is of “little utility” and expressed confidence that his successor would similarly defend the city’s interests, unafraid to be seen as a blockade when necessary, and would not allow STCP to bear the burden of others’ mistakes.
“Unlike other cities, Porto’s political power does not submit, accommodate, or obey the dictates of central power,” he concluded, adding that the residents of Porto are demanding.
On Tuesday, during an event in Maia, Miguel Pinto Luz told journalists that he would maintain “democratic hygiene” by not interfering in the metrobus issue, emphasizing that the government does not want to “restrict” public debate and that it is not influenced by municipal elections.
“The government is hindered from resolving the metrobus issue because we are in a pre-election period, and a mayor, still in office [Rui Moreira], took an absolutely radical public position, preventing a certain prosecution,” the government official recalled.
On July 14, Porto’s mayor, Rui Moreira, announced that he would not “waste more time” on the metrobus and would leave the matter to the next administration.
