EUROPE

Government committee lambastes Lisbon PA

19 years ago

The Portuguese government’ s audit committee (Tribunal de Contas) has declared that the Port of Lisbon Authority (APL) is losing millions of euros annually because of the way it allocates concession contracts, many of which are questionably profitable. The worst contracts are those offered to multipurpose terminals, says the committee.

It notes that APL is losing around €3.7m ($5.1m) per year due to two irregularities contained within the concession documents: the lack of definition in the area given over to the concessions and the lack of charges derived from these. Indeed, it comments that the APL has failed to charge concessionaires around €5.3m ($7.2m).

It also accuses the authority of deficiencies in monitoring and controlling the movement of cargo. The seven contracts it looked into had not been subjected to a proper economic feasibility study, it observed. Furthermore, the 20-and 30-year concessions awarded are viewed as not favouring competition within the port.