Delaying TAP sale could be “harmful to the country” says Portugal’s infrastructure minister

Portugal’s minister of Infrastructures, Miguel Pinto Luz believes “now is the right time” to sell TAP but has admitted that the current political crisis is a block to achieving it.

“As all the stakeholders are saying, now is the right time for the market to proceed with this sale and the (current political crisis) is a stumbling block” to this goal he told Jornal de Negócios and Antena 1 in an interview.

Miguel Pinto Luz says that the government and Parpública (a State companies holding company) will continue preparatory works for the next government to take a decision to “avoid wasting time”.

“It is planned to issue the decree-law but this could be overtaken by the steps that are being taken behind the scenes”, he said, referring to the forthcoming election campaign which will now start in earnest in the run up to the May 18 elections.

The Minister of Infrastructures also expressed concern about the execution time of the Porto – Lisbon High Speed line, after the tender for the second section ended with only one proposal, from the Portuguese consortium Lusolav, which has since been rejected by the jury.

“We mustn’t miss the deadline,” said Pinto Luz, admitting to pressing ahead with a new tender even though the Government is in a purely caretaker role until the elections.

The decision lies in whether the new tender will get increased funding or the workload will be reduced to attract more interested parties.