New Alcochete International Airport For Portugal
It’s official: Portugal’s new international airport won’t be built in Ota, as was previously announced. Instead, the £4 billion construction will be built in Alcochete, south of the river Tagus and is set to be ready for action by 2017. The new transport hub is expected to bring not only a much needed economic boost to the Portuguese municipality but also to real estate prices in areas surrounding areas the proposed projects site.
The turnaround was attributed to a new report from the LNEC civil engineering laboratory which disputed previously conducted feasibility studies and pointed to Alcochete as being a better choice as it would help boost economic and social development in the wider region, beating Ota on four of the seven crucial selection criteria. The new Alcochete International airport will have two runways and is anticipated to cater for 33million passengers by 2039. Lisbon will be within easy reach thanks to a high-speed rail link and a new dual road-rail bridge is also expected to be built.
Tourism and property industry professionals have welcomed the news, not least because the Portuguese property industry struggled with falling prices and a drop in foreign investment in 2007. The news of the new airport was met with a rise in share prices across the construction industry - Mot-Engil, Portugal’s biggest builder, saw its share price rise by 59% in 2007.
Trevor Watling said,
February 2, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
I think that the decision to build at Alcochete was a surprise but, to be honest, a very wise move by the Portuguese Government. Why? because the position is better for the increase in Real Estate / construction as now 3 areas will benefit from Development. The Silver Caost, the Blue Coast and the Alentejo. Especially aroind Evora, where in the last few weeks we have seen a huge demand for property details, especially from the US.