Portuguese parliament moves to reverse Lisbon, Porto transport concessions

(Clarifies final vote to be in committee within 20 days)

LISBON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Portugal's left-dominated parliament voted on Friday to begin the process of reversing concession tenders by the previous government that would have put public transport companies in Lisbon and Porto under private management.

The actual reversal still faces discussions on specifics and a final vote in parliament's economic committee in the next 20 days. If it goes through, it would set a precedent and might lead to a similar move for other recent privatisations, such as TAP airline and CP Carga railway cargo company.

But parliament is unlikely to reverse major sell-offs of state property carried out under Portugal's international bailout in 2011-2014.

The Lisbon and Porto concessions had been awarded to Spanish companies Avanza and Alsa and France's Transdev, but they were still awaiting the go-ahead from the competition authority and the accounts tribunal for the contracts to be signed.

"This is a historic day, because we started to put an end to the biggest ideological attack on the transport sector. By annulment of these concessions, we are preventing a bad deal for the state, firings and a reduction of service," said Socialist deputy Joao Correia.

Portugal's Socialist government, which relies on support from the far left in parliament, was sworn in on Thursday and approved its programme in a cabinet meeting on Friday. The left also has a majority in the economy committee and should not have any problem approving the reversal there after Friday's full session vote.

In June, unlisted Spanish transport company Avanza won an eight-year concession to run Lisbon's Carris bus and tram network as well as the Lisbon Metro. France's Transdev had won the Porto Metro contract, and Spain's Alsa, owned by Britain's National Express Group, won a 10-year contract to run the Porto ground transport company STCP.

Portugal's previous centre-right government, ousted earlier this month, had argued that the concessions would lead to savings worth tens of millions of euros in investment for much-needed fleet renewal and maintenance.

The leftist parties have outlined plans to overturn some smaller recent privatisations. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) has left alone the sales of large chunks of state property in energy and infrastructure. Those deals, made during Portugal's bailout years, enabled the country to raise some 9 billion euros and overshoot its target for privatisation revenues.

In one of its last measures, the previous government sealed the sale of a 61 percent stake in indebted airline TAP to a Brazilian-Portuguese consortium. But the new Socialist prime minister, Antonio Costa, has said he wants to take back an 11 percent stake for the state to retain control of the company.

However, EU rules bar the state from injecting cash into TAP and agreements signed between the Socialists and the two far-left parties make no mention of TAP.

Along with privatisation of national infrastructure assets, the liberalisation of public transport was one of the conditions of Portugal's bailout programme. (Reporting By Sergio Goncalves and Andrei Khalip; Editing by Larry King)