The Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) seeks to reinforce social, economic, and spatial solidity and speed up digital transition and climate protection.
IP has a privileged position as the largest national agent working in the Infrastructure Component enabling us to provide more competitive and cohesive territory. More specifically, this will be achieved through large-scale investment in accessibility to Business Development Areas and by strengthening the cross-border connections which are indispensable to promoting the interior of the country focusing on the Iberian market, as well as by concluding missing connections.
In addition to the direct connections, most of the investment seeks to improve accessibility to main corridors as well as to ports and rail connections, which will also reduce context costs for business activity.
IP participated with the government in the development of a thorough selection process for projects which optimize the capitalization of available funds to leverage the Infrastructure Component and, on 22 April 2021 after a public hearing, Portugal was the first Member State to deliver the final version of its RRP to the European Commission. This version was officially approved on 16 June 2021. Final approval was issued by the Minister of Finance on 13 July 2021, which made Portugal the first Member State to receive an approved RRP.
The place chosen by the government to present the infrastructure component was the IP headquarters in Almada, a ceremony which was held on 17 May 2021.
IP investment will be in:
“Missing” links and Increase in Network Capacity
Despite the already high level of the main road network, the complementary network still requires some finalizing, where some stretches do not provide the maximum return on investment already made.
These projects will help reduce polluting gases by eliminating the need to cross urban areas and by matching road capacity to traffic volume, thus reducing journey times and bottlenecks. They will also reinforce accessibility to the main multimodal corridors and interfaces.
Of special note are the connections to Portugal’s most important port, that of Sines. This investment, along with other investment in the IP8 and IP2 corridor forms part of the Trans-European Network and maximizes investment already made.
Moreover, there are also a number of regions which require improved accessibility, particularly in areas of low population density. This lack of access penalizes these regions which suffer from significant asymmetries, and as such, this investment is also important to reinforce competitiveness in local companies, driving economic growth while also strengthening territorial cohesion.
Cross-border connections
With respect to the Iberian Peninsula, cross-border cooperation plays a major role in bilateral relations, where common challenges are recognized, such as the desertification of the interior. Conversely, there are also opportunities which arise from cross-border cooperation such as the development of new business models.
These connections contribute to the socio-economic dynamics of towns and villages near the border and create conditions which allow common services and infrastructure to be enjoyed, such as the High-Speed Line in Sanabria and Bragança Aerodrome.
The investment will leverage the development of cross-border mobility and reduce context costs – particularly involving the mobility of workers in these areas, making the border a factor of union instead of separation.
Business Clusters – Road Access
It is vital to create conditions to reinforce territorial competitiveness and attract businesses to different points of the country. This will favor more balanced development of the production network, the reindustrialization of such areas and the optimizing of logistics chains.
One of the main methods of achieving this aim is to improve road access to Business Clusters which continue to experience difficulties in accessing major roadways. This will also bring about a reduction in context costs while also promoting the competitiveness of these areas and the companies which relocate there.
Road access is crucial to leverage the investment already made in established Business Clusters, providing more suitable support to ensure the efficient movement of goods.
This effort symbolizes the coordinated manner in which public investment and private sector effort contributes to the sustained development of our country.
The entire RRP will safeguard compliance with environmental requirements. All the necessary studies will be carried out, not only to ensure the prevention and control of pollution during the infrastructure life cycle, including the construction stage, but also in relation to more sustainable project solutions. This will help territories to adapt to climate change while also providing greater infrastructure resilience, more specifically to adverse climate events through better choices regarding route, drainage, stabilizing of embankments and the materials used.
IP is already conducting the procurement procedures for the first project work and promoting the different execution projects so as to comply with the ambitious scheduling plan.
