In a statement released today, the PCP's Regional Directorate of Alentejo (DRA) considered that the decision announced by the AD Government, "namely with the deadline that is presented", requires the use of the airport already built and in operation in the vicinity of the city of Beja.

The choice of Luís Montenegro's executive "makes it even more evident the need for Beja Airport to be truly included in the national airport network, namely to respond immediately to the needs of passenger transport, with the use of all its potential", it can be read.

For the communist structure, "only the subservience to the already scandalous profits of the concessionaire Vinci could justify millions and millions of public expenditure on the expansion of an airport that will be deactivated", that is, Humberto Delgado Airport.

Instead, it should be used, during the construction phase of the new Lisbon Airport, "existing airport infrastructures, such as Beja Airport", he stressed.

The Alentejo airport "has all the conditions to meet the needs of the expected increase in air traffic in the next 10 years, without the need to expand Humberto Delgado Airport", defended the DRA.

And Beja Airport can also "assert itself as an important complementary airport infrastructure" to the new airport, if "some investments in accessibility are made", he added.

In the statement, the PCP demanded the advancement, "once and for all", with "the improvement, qualification and increase in the capacity to receive passengers at Beja Airport", thus allowing "saving several million euros for the State" and guaranteeing investments for the future that "are not destroyed with the closure of Humberto Delgado Airport".

Other demands of the communists include "a serious investment in the region's highway, correcting scandalous delays", for example, with the completion of IP8 in its entirety, between Sines and Vila Verde de Ficalho and the award of works for the completion of IP2 in its entire route in the Alentejo, as well as adapting access to the airport.

The "modernization of the region's railway lines" and the "use of the potential of rail transport for quick and reliable" access to the airport is another of the goals claimed by the PCP, as well as the electrification of the Alentejo Line, between Casa Branca and Beja and between Beja and Funcheira, including the construction of a variant to the airport, among other measures.

The PCP also expressed the wish that "the measures now announced" by the Government "will in fact be implemented and that they will not turn out to be just another announcement without practical consequences".

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