Metro Mondego with an execution rate of 37.9% of investments in 2023

Metro Mondego, responsible for the future operation of the Mondego Mobility System (SMM), only executed 37.9% of the investments projected for 2023, according to the Report and Accounts.

If in 2021 and 2022 the execution rate was slightly below 50% of the projected investments, in 2023, Metro Mondego executed just over a third of what was planned, but the value of the investment executed was practically double the previous year ( more than six million euros out of a total of 16.8 million projected), concluded the 2023 Report and Accounts, approved on March 28th and which the Lusa agency consulted.

Metro Mondego is responsible for the future operation of the SMM, which will operate in the city of Coimbra and also serve the municipalities of Lousã and Miranda do Corvo with electric buses on a dedicated route.

The low value of the execution fee has practically the same justification as that presented in 2022 by Metro Mondego, pointing to the delays in publishing the Council of Ministers resolution that authorized structural investments, postponing the assignment of the construction contract for the Material Park and Workshops (PMO) and the award of the supply of electric buses, among others.

In addition, Metro Mondego (MM) also points to difficulties in construction contracts for basic infrastructures under the responsibility of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) and in the execution of the PMO and the downtown Coimbra contract.

Despite being responsible for the operation, MM is not in charge of the construction contracts for the MetroBus route, where the owner of the work is IP.

In the Report and Accounts, MM also points to the resignation of the Government, considering that this situation “reduced the capacity for government intervention in this intermediate period, during which some relevant decisions relating to the company and the system must be taken”.

An issue that at the time of preparing the MM Activity and Budget Plan (PAO) 2024/2026 was not resolved was the public service obligation contract, which is not yet contracted with the State and which will define the administration’s annual contribution central to the operation of the SMM.

In PAO 2024/2026, also approved on March 28th at the MM General Assembly, the entry into operation of the first phase of the SMM continues to be planned for the end of 2024 (Serpins, in Lousã, to Portagem, in Coimbra), and the remaining system at the end of 2025. The document admits that the system may not reach “cruising speed” in 2026.

As goals set for this year, MM hopes to open the Baixa de Coimbra canal, next to the City Council, complete the PMO by the end of the first semester and ensure the supply of all buses in the second semester.

With the end of works on the Baixa canal, Metro Mondego hopes to sell fractions of buildings alongside that project in 2024 and 2025, anticipating a profit of around four million euros from these sales.

Later this year, with the start of the first phase of the SMM, Metro Mondego expects to hire 50 drivers, and should increase the workforce with another 38 in 2025, when the entire system is operational.

For 2026, MM estimates an operation cost of around 12 million euros and tariff revenue of seven million euros, envisaging State compensation of 5.6 million euros.