Now, efforts are focused on overcoming the challenges that could compromise more than half of the works planned in the PRR, which only has a year and a half to be completed. This is because there are major works underway and new tenders still need to be launched, particularly for housing, and the pressure to meet the PRR targets “is very strong”, mainly due to the lack of labour in construction.

So far, “in terms of goals and milestones, we are in line with what we promised ourselves with the European Commission”, said Pedro Dominguinhos, president of the PRR National Monitoring Commission, to RTP. But he admitted that “it is in the physical execution on the ground where these challenges are much greater”, referring to the lack of labour and the bureaucracy related to public works tenders.

“If we are unable to attract more immigrants to […] construction, we will not have the capacity to carry out all the work that is already launched and under construction, and that which will be put out to tender in 2025”, warned Pedro Dominguinhos speaking to Porto Canal.

There are large-scale works that concentrate efforts in the final stretch of a year and a half, as is the case with the Hospital de Todos-os-Santos in Lisbon. And there are still several works to come. “We will have thousands of houses that will be put up for competition, as well as several dozen health centers, and several large schools. This means a great demand from the point of view of public works, in addition to Portugal 2030”, which has to reach 15% of execution by the end of this year, the president of the commission also detailed in the same media.

Along with these challenges related to the lack of labour, there will be municipal elections this year, so changes in municipal executives could delay the pace of execution and launch of works.

In order to be able to comply with the PRR by June 2026, the Government will deliver to Brussels a reprogramming of the program in January, exchanging more delayed projects – such as the surface Metro that will connect Odivelas to Loures – for other projects at a more advanced stage.

“We will have investments that will be removed from the PRR, although they will continue to be financed by another investment because there is no capacity to execute them in time. We will have other investments that will be partially financed and we will have new investments that will be introduced” in the PRR, Pedro Dominguinhos also pointed out.