During the Municipal Assembly of Covilhã, to which he was invited, the person responsible for the tourism concessionary company in Serra da Estrela reported that he had presented the Mobility Project to the municipal president a month ago and challenged the various entities to help achieve the stated intention.

According to Artur Costa Pais, the idea is “well worked on”, but he added that he will not take “more ambitious steps”, because the elaboration of an architectural project of this nature can exceed one million euros and considered that “it should not be led by a single entity.”

The project includes two accesses to Torre, from Nave de Santo António, in the municipality of Covilhã, and Lagoa Comprida, in Seia, two routes by air that will “solve the problem of accessibility to the Tower”.

Artur Costa Pais stressed that people interested in investing are people “with proven experience” and “great experience”, who already have what he claimed to be the largest cable car in the Iberian Peninsula, in Santander, Spain, with a length of five kilometres.

“We have financial solutions, which is very important”, highlighted the businessman, who stressed that it was not a Turistrela project, but a Serra da Estrela project, and a solution to “solve the big problem of Serra da Estrela”.

The administrator of Turistrela highlighted that the majority of visitors leave unhappy because they do not have parking or access to the Tower and added that “there is no destination” if those who go to the mountain “are not treated well”.

The president of the Covilhã Chamber, Vítor Pereira, responded that there was a commitment for the project to succeed, although he reinforced that “it is necessary to diversify, give it more rigor at all levels”.

In response to criticism from the businessman, who pointed the finger at the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), for not approving projects, the regional director, Fátima Reis, responded that the organisation does not approve ideas, without projects or preliminary projects, and added that “agreement in conceptual terms” had been formally shown, but added that the project needs “to be matured” and mention, in particular, “where the support structures are”.