“This will involve a conversation that I will have shortly with my colleagues from other municipalities within the metropolitan area, but evidently, I feel a responsibility to lead the Porto City Council. I think Porto cannot stand aside from what is a metropolitan strategy, and the city of Porto has special characteristics, as everyone will understand. I am, of course, willing to assume my responsibilities too,” he told journalists today.
Pedro Duarte was speaking at the end of the inauguration ceremony of the municipal bodies of the Porto City Council, following the local elections on October 12, which resulted in his election as mayor.
In the Porto Metropolitan Area, consisting of 17 municipalities, PS won seven electoral victories, PSD another seven, and CDS-PP one.
Also addressing journalists about the resumption of metrobus works on Boavista Avenue this week, Pedro Duarte responded: “Anyone who knows is aware that the avenue is absolutely dug up and fenced everywhere, and therefore, it is evident that this work, to restore the conditions we had, always had to be done,” he stated.
Regarding the injunction filed in the Porto Administrative and Tax Court during the electoral period to stop the metrobus works, the new mayor mentioned that the action lost its basis since, at the time, the works were suspended.
The works on the second phase of Porto’s metrobus, suspended by the new Metro do Porto administration in October, resumed on Monday on Boavista Avenue, between Rosário and Fonte da Moura, confirmed a source from the transport company.
“The section already started between Colégio do Rosário and [Avenida do Dr.] Antunes Guimarães is being worked on,” said an official source from Metro do Porto.
On October 3, Metro do Porto decided to make a “temporary technical stop” in the second phase of the metrobus work, which began on September 22.
The second phase of the metrobus works began on September 22, on the dedicated bus corridor of Boavista Avenue, in the section between Rua Jorge Reinel (next to Colégio do Rosário) and Avenida do Dr. Antunes Guimarães, and faced opposition, both from candidates for the Porto City Council presidency and residents, namely concerning the cutting of trees.
