Regional Council of the Centre calls for new airport north of the River Tagus

 In Infrastructure, New Airport, News

The Regional Council for the Centre (CHR) says that Lisbon’s new international airport should be built north of the River Tejo because that would best serve the interests of the country and the region.

“Everything seems to point to the (airport) being put north of the River Tagus because it would better serve national and regional interests when looking at the comparative advantages compared to the other solutions in the study”, states CRC.
The CRC, which is based in Coimbra, is a body that promotes regional development in the centre of Portugal and is led by João Paulo Fernandes, the Mayor of Fundão Municipal Council.
He highlighted the importance of a location ideally placed in terms of rail and road networks given accessibility to the A1, A23, A13 and A15 motorways.
In terms of the railways, Fernandes said it aligned with the new projected high-speed rail link stretch, the North Line, Beira Alta Line and Beira Baixa Line not to mention having the airport close to the greatest number of municipalities and still be just 30 minutes from Lisbon, with a catchment area of 4.5 million people within a 75 minute journey time.
The location currently being discussed north of the Tagus river is near Santarém where several plots of land are available which proponents suggesting it would minimise the financial impact for the country and offered development in the long term.