Slow march gathers 450 units. Entrepreneurs speak of “victory”

“ We got 117 companies together, about 450 cars on the road. We have traveled the distance we had to travel, about 150 kilometres, but more than that, throughout this week we have come to know a sector that the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing said today was forgotten. And this is a victory, the first victory”, said Miguel Machado Mendes, attorney representative of the promoters of the initiative.

The slow march to demand concrete responses to the increase of fuels reached the Coimbra node South of Highway 1 (A1) at 12:30, after having started, at 7:40, at the entrance of Lordelo da A42, heading towards A41, in the north-south direction, and then by A1.

On arriving in Coimbra, Miguel Machado Mendes also noted as the second victory of this march the fact that it is said that “men and women who are not afraid of work” and do not want to be away from the decisions that affect their lives.

“We do not accept the fatalism of not participating in decisions that impact our lives. It's time we stopped having our arms down. It's time we stopped being resigned and it's time we fought. And it was these claims that brought us to the street today,” he added.

Miguel Machado Mendes considered “very positive” the opening of the Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, for a meeting with the sector, scheduled for Monday, also highlighting the statements of the ruler made today in which he added that the sector was forgotten.

“ When we realize that it is a problem, it is the first step so that solutions can be presented. This is what we ask for”, he said.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing has today ensured that he is “analyzing the claims” of entrepreneurs linked to the earth plans regarding fuel prices, admitting that the sector has been “forgotten” in the measures so far taken by the government.

“ They are carriers who, many of them, are holders of their own fleet and who have not been or are not included in these [last measures], nor in any of the past, of this or of another Government,” Miguel Pinto Luz said in statements to journalists on the margins of the CNN Portugal Summit i9 Cascais – Living the Future, which takes place today in Cascais.

Recognising that “it’s a sector that has somehow been forgotten” in the measures taken so far to limit the impact of rising fuel prices, the minister considered that “it can’t be”, so the government is “analyzing its claims.”.

To the journalists, Miguel Machado Mendes said that the slow march took place “without any kind of incidents”, admitting that it caused “constraint to the other users of the highways”, but it was for “a good reason”.

The slow march brought together companies related to the extraction of inerts, transport, land movement and others in the terraplanning sector.

This construction sub-sector feels “very exposed and vulnerable to rising energy costs”, namely diesel, “a cost of production that means almost 70% of the final price” that companies present to customers.

“ Since 27 February this year, the price of diesel oil in Portugal has increased from EUR 1.59 to EUR 2.22 per litre, an increase of 63 cents per litre,” said the promoters of the initiative, stressing that this “historical rise” is leading to an “unsustainable scenario”.