… Where the ‘Cidade da Água’ will be born “in 10 or 15 years”

The ‘Cidade da Água’, City of Water, which will be built on the old Lisnave lands in Almada, is well underway. Sérgio Saraiva, one of the administrators of Baía do Tejo (BT), a company in the corporate sector of the state, has no doubt that within 10 or 15 years, the Arco Ribeirinho Sul will be totally renovated. The real estate megaproject already has five investors interested and the public bid will open and the end of the semester.

The project, which aims to revolutionise the area next to the river Cacilhas, has been approved and published in the Diário da República newspaper since 2009. In reality, after a long waiting period characterised by “two steps forward, one step back”, the project is making slow progress. There are already five investors interested: a Chinese group, a British group, a North American group and two consortia composed of Portuguese companies.

One of the managers of BT, Sérgio Saraiva, who spoke with idealista/news during a networking trip which took 50 real estate professionals to visit the lands of the Lisbon South Bay, has defended the importance of the project, which will help the Lisbon metropolitan area be recognised internationally.

The project has been on hold for some time

The project was approved in 2009 but the idea of transforming the old warehouse, which stopped all activity in 2000, into a new urban area, is still going strong. Think of the Expo, for example – about what it was and what it is today, and maybe we can identify some common features. Seeing the Expo 98 and that whole area, nobody thought it would be possible to create a “new city” there. Even so, that’s what happened and this project, too, is going to continue.

"Seeing the Expo 98 and that whole area, nobody thought it would be possible to create a ‘new city’ there.”

There are even investors interested

Yes. Now we are in the promotion phase. A sign that we’re still on the right track is that large international group have shown interest in developing this whole project. We are talking about new icons, about creating new urban areas. We are talking about investors who were interested a year ago and are reaffirming their interest now.

But are there still people who believe in the project?

The thing with this project is that it’s been on hold for a long time and the truth is that this situation has fed disbelief. As such, it’s normal that people’s expectations have dropped but when we bring international investors, and many have come to visit this land, the question of time becomes irrelevant because they have started to see the lands now.

“We believe that in a few years this will be the new icon of Lisbon, like the Expo is today.”

For us, Portuguese citizens who have seen these lands since ages ago, it’s different. Therein lies the importance of Portuguese people visiting [referring to the networking trip promoted by the APPII], so that they too can believe in the project. It’s a bit like a football team, we have to win in the dressing room first to be able to play in the Champions League.

We try to show the Portuguese people that this project really can go forward. We believe that in a few years this will be the new icon of Lisbon, like the Expo is today.

How much longer will we have to wait?

The Cidade da Água will be ready in 10-15 years. Of course, we will have some things ready before that, but that is the expectation. The development period of the project has that temporary horizon. Apart from that, we also want to invest in the rehabilitation of the two business parks (Barreiro and Seixal) to attract more businesses.

“The Cidade da Água will be ready in 10-15 years. Of course, we will have some things ready before that, but that is the expectation.”

What’s more, the possibility of transferring the new airport to the southside is also being studied. It’s another important tool, obviously, and could bring the most out of, and feed into, these projects. Lots of investors ask us when the airport will be ready because it’s a very important factor when it comes to deciding whether to invest here in the Cidade da Água or not.

The projects are complementary. We believe that the Cidade da Água, thanks to its size, has a powerful brand and others will benefit from it.