Portugal to build new airport across the river from Lisbon

Portugal will build a new international airport in the municipality of Alcochete, across the River Tagus from Lisbon, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro announced on Tuesday after decades of back-and-forth over the location. The new airport will be built at the site of a military airfield in Alcochete, about 40 km (25 miles) east of Lisbon, and should the ready by 2034. This location has been favoured by an independent technical commission, which had studied several possible sites. The new airport will replace Lisbon's Humberto Delgado airport, just near the city centre, but the current airport will be expanded while the new airport is being built. "The government sees having one single airport as a solution more suited to the country's strategic interests," Montenegro told a news conference. Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said the project would cost up to E9b, adding it would be built using EU funds, public-private partnerships and airport tariffs and not through the state budget.<br/>