Future high-speed rail line to Lisbon implies the demolition of more than 100 houses, according to the Environmental Impact Statement
The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) has given a conditional favorable opinion on the Porto-Aveiro route of the future high-speed rail line to Lisbon, implying the demolition of more than 100 houses, according to the Environmental Impact Statement (DIA).
“Taking into account the negative impacts identified, most of which can be minimized, and the significant positive impacts envisaged, a conditional favorable decision is issued,” can be read in the EIS issued, also reported this Thursday by the Público portuguese news papers.
With this decision, the APA conditions its assent on the adoption of specific route alternatives, namely route alternative 1.3 ILAB (interconnection with the A-B Northern Line) in section 1 (runs through the municipalities of Oliveira do Bairro, Aveiro, Albergaria-a-Velha, Estarreja, Oliveira de Azeméis) and alternative 2.4 in section 2 (runs through Estarreja, Oliveira de Azeméis, Ovar and Santa Maria da Feira).
On arrival in Porto, alternative 3.3 is imposed on section 3 (Espinho and Vila Nova de Gaia, including a 14.6-kilometre bypass in Gaia, mostly in a tunnel) and alternative 4.1 on section 4 (Vila Nova de Gaia and Porto, the only proposal, which includes the new road-rail bridge over the Douro).
The proposed alternatives follow those suggested in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), except for section 2, where “alternative 2.4V was considered more environmentally favorable due to the lower impact on inhabited buildings, despite interfering with areas affected by the Ovar-Sul Business Park Detailed Plan and the Acaíl Solar Power Plant, when compared to alternative 2.5V, selected by the EIA”.
In practice, compared to what was foreseen in the EIA, the number of homes affected is reduced by eight with the adoption of alternative 2.4, from 42 to 34. In the rest of the route, according to the EIA, there are 114 dwellings affected, with 23 in alternative 1.3 ILAB, 14 in alternative 3.3 and 43 in alternative 4.1.
It is planned to implement a Social Impact Management Program (PGIS), which “must define, in accordance with the studies carried out and for each situation, the compensation measure”, which as far as housing is concerned must cover the “rehousing of the affected families in their own, decent housing, similar to their housing in the situation of origin, respecting and allowing the maintenance of their way of life”.
“In the case of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable households, where the value of the expropriation of resources (e.g. housing) is insufficient for the acquisition of functionally similar resources, the amounts of compensation should be increased,” and if they are only tenants, “they should be supported in finding alternative situations.”
On July 12, the vice-president of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) said he foresaw that, in Espinho, the solution that should be approved involved “around nine housing allocations”.
The head of IP estimates that “five of these nine homes” may no longer be affected in the next phase of the project, since at this stage the environmental assessment criteria require a 400-meter-wide corridor to be designed, which will then be reduced to around 15 meters.
The Lisbon-Porto High Speed Rail project, with an estimated cost of around 4.5 billion euros, envisages a connection between the two cities in an hour and fifteen minutes, with possible stops in Leiria, Coimbra, Aveiro and Gaia.
The design and construction of the first phase (Porto – Soure) is scheduled to take place between 2024 and 2028, and Soure – Carregado (the connection to Lisbon will be developed later) between 2026 and 2030.
At the same time, the Porto-Vigo connection is also being developed, depending on the link with Spain, with a new connection to Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport and the Braga-Valença section (Viana do Castelo district) by 2030.
