Questioned by Lusa, the park's executive president, Soumodip Sarkar, revealed that the construction of the first building of the 2nd phase of PACT is already underway.

“We've already started with the construction of a building”, but “formally, we will lay the first stone on 13 December”, said Soumodip Sarkar, who is also vice-rector of the University of Évora (UÉ).

The project, with the “signature” of the architect Carrilho da Graça, has an area of ​​6,100 square metere and involves the construction of four new buildings, representing an investment of “almost €9 million”, indicated Soumodip Sarkar.

The new facilities will be located on land adjacent to the current PACT building, inaugurated in September 2015, after following an investment of €3.6 million.

According to Soumodip Sarkar, the first phase of PACT “is already a success”, as “there is no space for more companies” and the park continues to “receive orders” from others who are interested “in coming to the interior”.

Now, as part of the expansion, "half of the building" under construction "is already reserved for a company", and this project should "finish in May of next year".

As for the other three buildings, since they have a different source of funding, the work will “start in January of next year”.

The official said he believes that, by “mid 2023”, the PACT will already have three buildings.

The new facilities will be dedicated to four areas, one of them aeronautics, due to the presence in Évora of companies such as Embraer and Mecachrome and the fact that the Alentejo wants to assert itself as a 'cluster' in this sector, with investments in other municipalities in the region.

“Another area is digital health”, with “the construction of a new hospital and the possible creation of a School of Medicine in the city of Évora”, said Soumodip Sarkar.

Highlighting the potential of the Alentejo, which offers, for example, “a cheaper cost of living” and “a very different quality of life” from that which exists in Lisbon, the official said that PACT wants to contribute to retaining young people from the Alentejo and attracting “no only companies, but also families, from other parts of Portugal” and “from Europe”.

The Alentejo should not only be understood as “a beautiful place to walk” or a region known for its gastronomy: “We have to think about the technological Alentejo”, he argued.