“Our expectation is that 2027 will be the year in which, at least on the first section, there will be machines working”, said the president of the Intermunicipal Community of Beira Baixa, João Lobo, one of the entities that will demand that the Government complete the IC31 that will connect Lisbon to Madrid, in Spain.

The issue relates to the delay in completing the IC31, a road with a total length of 600 kilometres, of which 19 kilometres remain to be completed in Spain, between Moraleja and Monfortinho, and 64 kilometres in Portugal, between Monfortinho and Alcains.

In Portugal, the project, included in the National Investment Plan – PNI2030, is divided into two sections, the first 15 kilometres with an approved Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and, “the remaining 40 kilometres, with the EIA rejected and with the corridor through which it will pass yet to be defined”, explained João Lobo to the Lusa news agency.

The delay of around 20 years in completing the road, considered “a fundamental route”, led to the creation of the Northern European Territorial Alliance of Estremadura – Beira Baixa, which brings together several municipalities and civic associations from both countries to demand “the rapid start of the works”, stated today the mayor of Castelo Branco, Leopoldo Rodrigues, during the third Iberian meeting, held in Nazaré, in the district of Leiria.

The leaders of the alliance, which claims to be non-partisan, decided to request meetings with all parliamentary groups and request the presence of the Minister of Infrastructure of the Portuguese Government, Miguel Pinto Luz, at the next meeting, to be held in October, in Castelo Branco.

“We have to move from standstill to action”, stated the spokesperson for the movement, Francisco Martin, supported by representatives of the municipalities of Carceres and Badajoz, who said at the meeting that they did not want their respective governments to “pat them on the shoulder”, but rather to “listen to the noise of the machines” and see “territories united”.

At the meeting, those responsible for the alliance also appealed to local authorities and associations of municipalities in the districts of Coimbra, Leiria, Santarém and Portalegre to join this movement, since although they are not crossed by this road, they benefit from its impacts in terms of tourism and the flow of products between the two countries.

The tender for the development of the Implementation Project for the future road link between Castelo Branco and Monfortinho has already been published in the Official Gazette, and it is a new road that will guarantee better mobility and safety conditions, bringing the Central region of Portugal closer to Spain.

In December 2021, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) launched a tender for the Implementation Project for the so-called IC31 – Castelo Branco | Monfortinho, divided by the sections IC31 – A23 / Proença-a-Velha and IC31/EN239 – Proença-a-Velha / Monfortinho (Ponte Segura Border).

The tender had a base price of 1.8 million euros. The completion of the IC31 has an estimated cost of between 120 and 150 million euros, according to the European Territorial Alliance.