The public tender for the construction of this building was launched in the beginning of February, with a value of 2.2 million euros, and the work will be awarded "until the end of this month", the PACT manager, João, revealed today to the Lusa agency. Assumption. According to the same official, the new building "will start operating at the end of March next year and 75 percent of the available floor area is already committed". This is one of the four new buildings that are part of the PACT expansion project, which corresponds to the 2nd phase of the park, developed by the architect Carrilho da Graça, in a total investment of 8.2 million euros, with the support of community funds.

The future four buildings, with 6,100 square meters of area, will be located on a land adjacent to the current PACT building, opened in September 2015, after an investment of 3.6 million euros. The other three buildings in the expansion project will move forward "at a later stage", since "the financing mechanisms are different", with "different approval times", said João Assunção. Also in statements to Lusa, the executive president of PACT, Soumodip Sarkar, considered that the park is "on the right track", adding that "there are already guaranteed" two out of four anchor companies intended for each of the strategic areas. "We are thinking of 60 companies" for the new building, including "four anchor companies for each of the four strategic areas: aeronautics, digital health, circular economy and 4.0 information and communication technologies", he stressed.

One of them, said the person in charge, is CEiiA - Center for Engineering and Product Development, which "will be anchored in PACT" and which "is already waiting" for the new building to start operating. Also, "we already have a renowned international company, which has agreed with us to have an office" in the park, and we hope that, "this way, more international companies will come," said Soumodip Sarkar, refusing to reveal his name. For the executive president of PACT, Alentejo may become "a new 'Silicon Valley'", if there is "the will not only of the park, but of all the stakeholders" and also of those who rule the country ". "Alentejo is known for its gastronomy, landscape, wine and heritage, but now we want to keep it all and show a different Alentejo and PACT is leading the process for a technological Alentejo", he stressed. PACT is one of the aspects of the Regional Technology Transfer System (SRTT), which involves more than 30 partners from Alentejo, such as the University of Évora, the polytechnics of Beja, Portalegre and Santarém, companies and other institutions in the region.