“It is important to clarify. Legal, juridical. It is not my role. My role is political. At that time, when such a proposal comes, which I am unaware of (…), we will analyze from a political, legal, and juridical point of view, because it is indeed important,” Miguel Pinto Luz said today to journalists in Maia (district of Porto).
The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing was responding to a question about the inclusion in the high-speed project’s terms of reference of a bridge over the Douro River and a station in Gaia at Santo Ovídio. This comes at a time when the AVAN Norte consortium (Mota-Engil, Teixeira Duarte, Alves Ribeiro, Casais, Conduril, and Gabriel Couto) aims to propose a station south of Santo Ovídio and two bridges instead of a road-rail bridge.
Miguel Pinto Luz spoke on the sidelines of a management agreement signing between Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) and Maia City Council to manage a section of National Road 14.
Questioned about the consortium’s intention to propose alternative solutions, he stated, “The government has no knowledge.”
“What I have heard is that [the consortium] intends to do so. When it presents, the government at that time will comment on that proposal. We will not anticipate nor hold public discussions now about a solution that I am unaware of,” emphasized Miguel Pinto Luz.
The official highlighted that “the terms of reference outlined a set of solutions but allowed the winning consortia to optimize the solutions,” and “did not close the solutions.”
“Still, the contract that was signed and which the IP signed is on a specific solution. If the consortium, now – and I am unaware, I don’t comment on news – comes to present, at that time Infraestruturas de Portugal will make the evaluation,” he said.
Miguel Pinto Luz emphasized that “it is not the ministry” that is tasked with such a role, but “the political analysis of public policy options in terms of mobility, transport, and infrastructure,” and that IP and its technicians, “rightly, will carry out the technical evaluation of the proposals that are made.”
Also present at the same event, the president of IP, Miguel Cruz, declined to answer questions about the topic.
The AVAN Norte consortium will propose the high-speed station in Gaia south of Santo Ovídio and two bridges over the Douro instead of one road-rail bridge, different solutions from those outlined in the terms of reference.
Following the project’s adjudication in October 2024, in which the consortium released a video featuring the Santo Ovídio station and a road-rail bridge, in April an alternative solution was presented, which was not foreseen in the terms of reference, with the station at Vilar do Paraíso and two bridges instead of one.
On April 16, the government assured that “any eventual change must be fully safeguarded from a legal standpoint, be in complete accordance with the requirements of the terms of reference, and ensure the agreement of the municipalities,” recalling that the project “is based on the solution presented in the proposal by the LusoLav consortium, the contest winner, which was aligned with the pre-project presented by IP,” with a station in Santo Ovídio and a connection to the Metro’s Yellow Line, and a single bridge.
The terms of reference for the public tender mention Santo Ovídio station 17 times and include a preliminary program for the construction of the underground station, as well as an appendix with the map of its location.
In the document establishing the concession limits, it can be read that those for the Campanhã and Santo Ovídio stations “must be adjusted to fulfill the respective preliminary programs.”
