Government Creates New Advisory Body to Evaluate Major Public Works

The government approved this Thursday, in general, the regulatory decree that creates the Higher Council of Public Works, the entity through which will pass all investment projects of a value of more than 75 million euros. The legislative process is not over and the matter will have to be referred to another council meeting, but the government hopes that everything will be ready in time for the national investment program to be submitted to the new body.

On June 19, Prime Minister António Costa announced that the government would soon approve the establishment of the Higher Council of Public Works to help improve the quality of the political decision, but also called for a "rapid definition" of the strategy

During the presentation session of the National Program of Investment at the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) of Lisbon, the official stressed the importance of the quality of the political decision in the definition of A strategy for building infrastructure
In this sense, he added that the government "will briefly approve" the constitution of a Higher Council of Public Works, with the participation of different political, social and economic entities

"The political decision must be informed and technically qualified, but also with the involvement of the various actors who have to to decide on the definition of research priorities The Higher Council of Public Works will not be composed exclusively of engineers specializing in infrastructures, but will ensure the participation of the social partners, representatives of the territories (especially local authorities), associations and all economic activities, "he said. "

According to the Prime Minister, the Higher Council of Public Works" will be forced to decide the most important investments, so that the decision is informed and supported not only by a broad political consensus, but also by a social consensus and territorial. "

In addition to the quality of the political decision, the Prime Minister argued that the process must also experience stability, giving as a bad example the question of the new Lisbon airport, with decades of Ota and Rio Frio, then, more recently, with the idea that it came to be considered "megalómana" in the sense of and build in Alcochete