Continental Mabor’s management, in Famalicão, claims an alternative road to the EN14 and says that, if it is not built, it calls into question an investment of 100 million euros and between 150 to 400 new jobs.
The company has “projects that have already been announced and started, which, without adequate accessibility, will not be possible to complete”, warns in statements to the Business Journal, than advance the news (exclusive access to subscribers), the president of Continental Mabor, Pedro Carreira.
“At risk is an investment of 100 million euros and the creation of 150 to 400 jobs, and some employees are already in the company receiving ‘on job’ training for this project”, says the official.
At issue is the conclusion of the OTR project – production of so-called off-road tires, for mines, ports and earthmoving.
According to Continental Mabor, this investment can be mortgaged due to the lack of an alternative to Estrada Nacional 14, which links Porto to Braga. “A part of our new OTR project, announced last year, is complete. However, we still need to install more equipment, large, which can only be installed if we have room to grow ”, says Pedro Carreira.
The space exists within Continental’s perimeter, “but whose use is limited by falling into a protective channel space for the implementation of the future route”, explains the manager, adding that, “in recent years”, the fifth largest Portuguese exporter received ” promises and even projects, all indicating that the realization of the alternative to EN 14 would be imminent ”.
“If we already have good highways (A3 and A7) for trucks that need to transport equipment and tires”, the problem is “the connection routes to these highways, which are small and are now completely saturated”, he emphasizes in the statements to the newspaper of business.
“The unofficial dates that come to us point to deadlines that take this construction to the end of 2024, but always conditional on the existence of funds to be allocated. (…) Our displeasure is related to this situation – there is always a reason to postpone a project of more than 20 years ”, criticizes Pedro Carreira, adding that,“ if in the past, the arguments were that there was no money ” , now with the millions announced in Europe, he fears that “bureaucracy will put more impediments or obstacles to this important work”
This was a concern expressed to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, when he was recently at the celebrations of Continental Mabor’s 30th anniversary in Famalicão.
The German group’s factory has 2,300 workers. It has more than 900 million euros of investment and a production of 350 million tires.
“Since 2010, we have invested, on average, over 50 million euros per year. And in the last five years alone, we have hired more than 600 employees for the permanent staff ”, stresses the president of Continental Mabor, which closed 2019 with record sales of 893.2 million euros, of which 99% were exports to 68 countries, and profits of 206.7 million euros.
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