LISBON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Portuguese government announced on Tuesday that it has decided to construct a new international airport in Alcochete in the Lisbon metropolitan area.
The location was chosen following the recommendation of an independent technical commission, announced Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro in a statement to the country after an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday afternoon.
"The Government has decided to approve the development of the new Lisbon airport with the aim of fully replacing Humberto Delgado Airport at the Alcochete shooting range and naming it Luis de Camoes Airport," announced Montenegro.
He explained that the new Lisbon airport will completely replace the current Humberto Delgado Airport, adding that the single airport is the most suitable solution for the country's strategic interests and that Alcochete provides room for expansion.
The Portuguese government estimates that the new airport will have an approximate cost of 8 billion euros (8.64 billion U.S. dollars) and will take 10 years to complete.
Portugal decided in 1968 to build a new airport, but the location could not be finalized due to various reasons.
Pedro Nuno Santos, secretary general of the main opposition Socialist Party and former minister of infrastructure and housing, said that Portugal has been "waiting for more than 50 years to decide the location of the airport."
According to the government's announcement, the new airport will be designed to be able to expand to accommodate long-term demand, stimulate agglomeration economies, and integrate with other accessibility projects.
The project envisages a basic model of two runways with capacity for 90 to 95 movements per hour and the possibility of expansion to up to four runways for an estimated passenger traffic that may exceed 100 million by Year 2050.
The first runway will be ready in 2030 and the second one is expected to be ready by 2031. (1 euro = 1.08 U.S. dollars) ■
