Vinci Concessions reaffirms commitment to invest in Portugal
The CEO of Vinci Concessions, Nicolas Notebaert has reaffirmed the European airports management group’s commitment to investing in Portugal.
The president of France’s Vinci Airports, which owns ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, which in turn runs Portugal’s airports, said, however, that now is not the time to negotiate with the Portuguese government about the new Lisbon international airport but rather enhancing the technical and operational part of the project.
The CEO made sure that he was part of the committee that joined the French President Emmanuel Macron on his official visit to Portugal to restate the group’s commitment to invest in Portugal where in 2012 it won the privatisation bid for ANA.
Nicolas Notebaert told Negócios that the initial report for the development of the new Lisbon airport was well received and assured that he had never heard comments from the Portuguese authorities disagreeing with the cost and the time lines proposed.
He said that Vinci was a very important part of the €17Bn invested by French companies in Portugal and added that the company intended to do more with the project whose initial report was delivered to the government in mid-December last year.
During the State visit of the French president, Vinci did not hold talks with the government but said there were some minimal technical requirements that ANA had to assure that were complied with.
“Now we are in a new enhancement phase in which we will discuss what needs to be done and we have begun consultation with the main interested parties with a list of topics decided by the government such as the airlines, handlers and other parties to help us enhance the project from a technical and operational standpoint,” he said.
ANA has put in a budget of €8.5Bn for the new airport which will be ready by 2037 with the government saying it does not believe in this budget or the timelines and wants them reduced, but Nicolas Notebaert said he had heard nothing from the Portuguese authorities on the matter.
