Procurement problems delay Lisboa metro extension projects

PORTUGAL: Construction of Metropolitano de Lisboa Red Line’s extension could finally begin in June with the opening now envisaged for the beginning of 2030. However financing is still to be secured following the loss of EU funding. Diogo Ferreira Nunes reports on delays to metro projects in Lisboa.

Plans to extend the Lisboa metro’s Red Line by 4 km to Amoreiras, Campo de Ourique, Infante Santo and Alcântara were announced under a network development plan presented by the government in May 2017, and subsequently approved in October 2021. The extension would serve areas with dense housing, employment, educational and retail facilities, and the terminus would provide an interchange with the future LIOS Ocidental light rail line to Oeiras as well as the existing tram Route 15.

In 2021 construction was estimated to cost €304m, with completion envisaged by the end of 2025. However, tenders were not called until in January 2023, following the environmental approvals, by which time the estimated cost has risen by a third to €405m owing to inflation costs the year before.

The government agreed to provided the additional funding, and in December 2023 Metropolitano de Lisboa awarded the construction contract to a consortium of Mota Engil and SPIE Batignolles Internacional.

Delay stops EU funding

In order to benefit from funding from the EU Recovery & Resilience Facility the work had to be completed by the end of 2026.

However, the start of construction was delayed after one of the losing bidders contested the award. In May 2025 the court rejected the appeal, but with only a year and a half remaining, it was impossible for the work to meet the funding deadline.

The Infrastructure Ministry said new funding sources would need to be identified. In April this year the ministry told parliamentarians that the project’s funding structure was under evaluation by the European Investment Bank.

The government expects that construction will now start by the end of June and last until the end of 2029, with opening to passengers at the beginning of 2030. Metropolitano de Lisboa expects that the extension will increase daily ridership on the network by 4.7%, with modal shift from cars saving save 6 200 tonnes of CO2 in the first year of operation.

Circle Line also delayed

The Circle Line project was also announced in May 2017 with opening planned by the end of 2021. It involves an investment of €216m, financed by EU funds and EIB loans.

Procurement problems led to delays, and construction of the Rato – Cais do Sodré link began in mid-2021. The Circle Line will add two new stations in previously unserved areas. Estrela will be Portugal’s deepest at 54 m underground, and accessed via high capacity lifts. Santos station will be 25 m below ground.

The Circle Line also requires remodelling of the existing metro network. At Campo Grande, where the Green and Yellow lines interconnect in the northern suburbs, the inner parts of both routes will become part of the Circle Line.

In April this year the government announced that the Circle Line budget had risen by €380m, 80% higher than the initial forecast, and following numerous construction challenges the opening is now expected in early 2027,

Violet Line

The Loures/Odivelas light rail was announced in July 2021, when construction was expected to begin in 2023 and take until the end of 2025.

Initially planned as a 12.1 km line with 18 stations and a €250m budget, the project was revised in March 2024 to be a 11.5 km U-shaped routefrom Beatriz Ângelo Hospital to Várzea de Loures, connecting with the Yellow Line at Odivelas and having 12 surface stations, two in cuttings and three underground. The cost more than doubled to €527m, with €390m from the RRF and the rest from the national budget.

Completion was planned by the end of 2026, but again problems arose with the procurement. The first tender collapsed after all bids exceeded the price ceiling by around 46%, forcing Metropolitano de Lisboa to revisit the budget.

A relaunched procurement attracted four bids, including consortia led by Spain’s FCC Construcción and Portugal’s Teixeira Duarte and MasterStylo. The only bid below the €600m budget, was from Mota-Engil, working with a local subsidiary of China’s CRRC

Owing to the contract value and the Chinese company’s involvement, Mota-Engil’s bid was referred to the European Commission under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation. In November 2025, the Commission launched a wider investigation into CRRC’s role.

After five months, the Commission ruled that foreign subsidies linked to CRRC gave the consortium an unfair edge. Consequently, Mota-Engil has replaced CRRC with Poland’s state-backed Pesa as a subcontractor.

The other bidders may still challenge this change in court, which would delay the project only further.