The proposed plan of the Regional Secretariat for Transport and Public Works for 2020 provides for an investment over 210 million euros, which will cover maritime, land and air transport, public works and communications.
The Regional Secretary for Transport and Public Works stressed in Horta “the continued commitment to the public air transport and maritime transport service with the planned revision of the tender contract for the concession of inter-island transport, ending in October 2020. Next year, we will also be working on the tender procedures for maritime passenger transport.”
Ana Cunha spoke Wednesday at the Committee on Economic Affairs of the Legislative Assembly. On the occasion, she stressed that, as for airport infrastructures, “there are several investments, namely in Graciosa Aerodrome." As she added, there are also “several planned investments for airports in terms of equipment acquisition and compliance with safety requirements determined by ANAC - National Civil Aviation Authority, which will be carried out by SATA - Aerodrome Management."
The Regional Secretary also emphasised “the reinforcement of SATA Group's capitalisation plan, namely through a further capital increase amounting to 40 million Euros, besides the capital increases already determined by previous resolutions of the Council of the Government."
In regard to ports, the Regional Secretary highlighted “a number of very relevant interventions," such as "the beginning of the works at Ponta Delgada wharf, the reprofiling of the wharf and the expansion of the embankment," and the works at Pipas Port. According to her, the latter work "is already in the proposal analysis phase and will have a significant construction phase planned for 2020."
Ana Cunha also recalled the need to proceed swiftly with “the huge undertaking of Lajes das Flores Port, which must necessarily start in 2020, at least in its intermediate phase. It will involve the improvement of the port's operating conditions and the supply to the islands of Flores Island and Corvo, which entails increased frequency and capacity."
The Secretary for Transport and Public Works stated that this is an investment that, “although not yet covered by this Plan proposal, as it was a supervening change, will have to be included in it. We are now considering how the transfer of funds will be made.”
The Regional Secretary assured that this "is an investment due to start in 2020 and, accordingly, the Regional Port Authorities, have already planned to present a project, an intermediate solution, by the end of this year."
Moreover, Ana Cunha also recalled the construction of the new vessels for the maritime transport of passengers and vehicles, "whose tender has already been launched, is under the analysis phase of proposals and its construction is planned for next year.”
As for land transport, the Regional Secretary stressed that “the concession contracts currently in force will be extended, while the specifications are being prepared for the new legislative framework, which will come into force in December. It will require a fine-tuning of these specifications and land transport concessions.”
In this regard, the government official mentioned they will also have to consider "the possibility of the carriers holding these land transport contracts to be able to introduce certain modifications, such as the implementation of a ticketing system."
"In turn," we will also analyse the new Community framework to work out how these concessionaires are able to renew their fleets with Community support," said Ana Cunha.