The Commission for the Promotion of the Citizen Platform “SIM! Beja Airport is part of the solution” it was informed that Alentejo will no longer be among the target territories 1 in the next Community Support Framework, what does the loss of the right to 80% EU-guaranteed Loan Fund financing.
Strategic investments of national interest such as the electrification and modernization of the entire Alentejo Line – Casa Branca-Beja-Ourique, with agreement to Évora and variant to Beja Airport are thus at risk of being sent to the calends.
According to Plataforma Cidadã, “this information means that, unless there is an urgent decision to include the railway section Beja-Ourique/Funcheira and the variant to Beja Airport still in the PNI 2030 and/or PRR, how we have been complaining, Beja, capital of Baixo Alentejo, could be condemned to be a mere railway spur, without direct connections to the Sines Complex and the Algarve”.
The Beja Airport (n.d.r.: Civil Terminal of Beja/TCB), whose best use should constitute a strategic objective, within the framework of the mainland airport system, for the complementarity that may/should have, in relation to Lisbon Airport and, especially, in relation to Faro Airport, whose hinterland alone justifies its better use, for the Citizen Platform "will be, once again, condemned to the exclusive use of the highway, which goes against everything that has been advocated regarding the railroad option as a privileged mode of transport in the future. only the railroad, modernized, electrified and prepared for high speeds between 200/250 km/hour can bring such a vast territory closer to the competitiveness and cohesion that is so much talked about”.
It is not enough to say that there is more to life than the deficit. It is urgent and fundamental that this statement be translated into more productive investment, that generates more and better jobs, fight regional inequalities, consolidate territorial cohesion and preserve the environment.
The Driving Committee of the Citizen Platform recalls that Alentejo “represents more than a third of the national territory. It is a territory that has a lot to contribute to the overall development of the Country” and in order to continue the work it has been developing “he decided to urgently request audiences to the Municipal Chambers of Beja, Aljustrel, and Ourique for which this request was sent today”, concludes.
