Metro to Gondomar and Trofa does not prevent lines to Matosinhos and Maia

The metro lines to Gondomar and Trofa will be the first to move forward in the next network expansion package. But the president of the Metropolitan Council of Porto, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, says that the tracks for Matosinhos and Maia are to be executed. Tenders should be launched by the summer.

The president of the Porto Metropolitan Council, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, recalls that there are four projects for the expansion of the metro on the table and that they “were defined in a protocol signed in Gondomar”: the routes for Trofa, Gondomar, Matosinhos and Maya. After the construction phase of the Rosa line, in Porto, the extension of the Yellow line to Vila d’Este, in Gaia, and the Rubi line, between Campo Alegre and Arrábida Shopping, will advance “the execution projects in relation to the other lines “. These tenders should continue until the summer.

“The information that the Minister [do Ambiente, Duarte Cordeiro] made public is that until the summer the projects are launched in competition”, he stressed.

The also mayor of Gaia recalls “the controversy” created around the signing of the protocol for the study of the expansion routes of the metro network, signed in February 2020 at the Câmara de Gondomar, noting that it is confirmed, today, “the good -fé” of the Metropolitan Area of ​​Porto (AMP) and the Government.

The solution found for Trofa was to build part of the line in metro and the rest in metrobus. “That was the viable solution. It was accepted by everyone that it would only make sense to invest if the line was at least balanced and that it did not have any kind of deficit that would later be imported to the other lines”, notes Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues.

“What was evident at the time, given the money available, was that Gondomar and Trofa corresponded to priorities from the point of view of sustainability and construction viability. The Matosinhos project was superior to the amount available under the Recovery and Resilience Plan ( PRR) for financing, which meant that either it was going to be excluded or else, as it happened, the Municipality reviewed the project in conjunction with Metro do Porto. The same happened with Maia”, explains the also mayor of Gaia , reinforcing that “priorities were defined according to the network’s financial sustainability criteria”.

“The four lines are really for doing”

What was negotiated with the Government, clarifies the mayor, “was the start of the execution projects of the four lines, knowing that the financing immediately available, most likely only fits Gondomar and Trofa”, which will have funds from Portugal 2030 and of the PRR. While these execution projects are being dealt with, the preparation of the financing model “which will be defined by June of this year” is progressing.

Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues notes that there is “a financial package dedicated to mobility within the scope of Portugal 2030”, believing that there is enough money to move forward with the Matosinhos and Maia routes, with a “short time lag” in relation to the Gondomar and from Trofa.

“The great objective of mobility and the decarbonization project that Portugal has committed itself to is 2034. Therefore, what we have to do is guarantee that the four lines are really to be done, knowing that probably Gondomar and Trofa are already moving forward”, concludes.