Pause: Portugal to halt privatisation of transport
The government will ask the Court of Auditors to ‘suspend the authorisation approval’
LISBON:
Portugal’s new left-wing, anti-austerity government announced it was moving to halt the privatisation of transport systems in Lisbon and Porto, a measure introduced by its right-wing predecessor. The government will ask the Court of Auditors to ‘suspend the authorisation approval’ which would have greenlit the privatisation, it said in a statement carried by the Portuguese news agency Lusa. The previous right-wing government decided in September to hand the management of Lisbon’s public transport over to the Spanish group Avanza, while the northern city of Porto would see its system managed by the Spanish Alsa and French Transdev. But in November a leftist alliance led by the Socialist Party toppled the right-wing coalition and forced Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to resign.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2015.
Portugal’s new left-wing, anti-austerity government announced it was moving to halt the privatisation of transport systems in Lisbon and Porto, a measure introduced by its right-wing predecessor. The government will ask the Court of Auditors to ‘suspend the authorisation approval’ which would have greenlit the privatisation, it said in a statement carried by the Portuguese news agency Lusa. The previous right-wing government decided in September to hand the management of Lisbon’s public transport over to the Spanish group Avanza, while the northern city of Porto would see its system managed by the Spanish Alsa and French Transdev. But in November a leftist alliance led by the Socialist Party toppled the right-wing coalition and forced Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to resign.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2015.