Here is my two cents on the big decision by the new portuguese government to finally commit to a location for and to the construction of a new (very big) airport with associated new bridge to cross the river, and, separately but connected, go ahead with high speed rail towards madrid (i think) and perhaps something else. Lauded as marks of true leadership after decades of foot dragging, these decisions have been welcomed by many, not least the community related to the construction business.
So, my two cents:
1) we dont need a new airport. we need to commit to curb the number of passengers in and out of lisbon in a given year. Not just because of climate change, but because the only idea of development our politicians have is tourism. It is a miserable idea of what we should be as a people and as a nation.
2) we do need new houses, but all this does is point resources to building something other than houses. not only that, the building sector is not interested in building for the masses. it is mostly interested in building luxury to sell to foreigners (because the few portuguese that can pay are not enough business). they of course love this. airport, more people, more tourism. i cannot think of a more perverse use of resources.
3) there is a war going on. we need to invest massive amounts on defense, and we need to support ukraine. but who cares about ukraine. we want a new airport. they can die, after all they are ukranians and good busines is with russia.
4) even if we did not spend money on defense (which we absolutely must) we have a ton of things that are more important. education (see the new innovative projects being done by private initiatives), health, elderly care, urban renovation. all the things that make life better for the people we have and that live miserable commuting and educational lives.
5) large projects, large cost overruns, large corruption. it is a fact of life, specially with us. But perhaps that was the point all along. And of course to fill the current airport location of concrete.
There. my two cents. It is so easy to do better, and yet, here we are, in the big construction spending that has provenly bankrupted the country many times while making some politically connected very rich. Bananas anyone?
