Government accuses opposition of lying about crumbling roads and bridges

The government has lashed out at the opposition CDS-PP party, accusing it of manipulating the public and lying to try to create a, “feeling of fear and insecurity” about the state of the country’s roads, bridges and railways.

The government was shocked to find out that the opposition is launching a nationwide condemnation of the country’s infrastructure, pointing to “the government’s choice of maximum tax burden and minimum public investment,” according to the CDS-PP president, Assunção Cristas.

Pedro Marquês, the Minister of Planning and Infrastructures, hit back in a statement released today,

“The CDS, in the absence of an agenda of proposals for the country, continues this weekend to try to create a sense of fear and insecurity in the population with respect to road and railway infrastructures, having no problem in resorting to manipulation and even to lying,” said the minister, adding that, “the infrastructure managed by the State, through Infraestruturas de Portugal, is subject to constant vigilance and inspection,” and that the government keeps the public up to date on the state of play.

Among the dozens of situations that the CDS will highlight by the end of the year, Cristas pointed to the Ponte 25 de Abril in Lisbon as, “one of the concerns, with problems identified as far back as 2015,” about which the government did absolutely nothing.”

This accusation was rejected by the minister, explaining that the inspections systems for the 25 de Abril Bridge, “are among the most sophisticated in Portugal” and that maintenance work will begin “soon, within the schedule agreed with international experts and by Infraestruturas de Portugal.”

According to the ministry, “with all the other cases mentioned by the CDS: these are situations permanently monitored by Infraestruturas de Portugal and the subject of interventions ranked by necessity, complexity and urgency.”

“The CDS has chosen to ignore the facts – it even blames Infraestruturas de Portugal for roads that are not under its management – in an attempt to forget the irresponsibility of its previous government’s lack of action in this area,” said Marquês.

“For our part, we will continue to do our job. In 2018, we doubled the Infraestruturas de Portugal’s investment and we will maintain the pace in 2019. On the railroad, with the greatest investment in the last decades in the renewal of lines, but also on the roads, with rigorous and judicious public investment in mobility and safety,” concludes the ministry’s press release.