The deputies of the PSD and CDS/PP elected by the Algarve asked the Government to submit the Praia Grande Tourism Project, near Lagoa dos Salgados, to the Environmental Impact Assessment.
In a Draft Resolution presented by the Parliamentary Groups of the CDS/PP and the PSD, and signed by Artur Rego (CDS-PP), Mendes Bota (PSD), Pedro Roque (PSD), Elsa Cordeiro (PSD) and Cristóvão Norte (PSD) , the deputies recommend to the Government that «proceed with the National AIA Authority, under the competence of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), so that the tourism project planned for Praia Grande, in the Salgados lagoon, is subject to the evaluation procedure of Environmental Impact (EIA)'.
In their Draft Resolution, the Algarve parliamentarians consider the strategic importance of national tourism in the competitive growth of the Portuguese economy to be «unquestionable, due to the creation of wealth, employment and a strong contribution to national exports. a recent revision carried out to the National Strategic Plan for Tourism a growth of 10% per year in this sector».
«Despite the economic contraction environment in which the country finds itself, the positive environment of the sector has aroused the interest of some investors in promoting some projects of relevant dimension, which is to be welcomed, although it should be ensured that in the its design, the environmental factors are taken into account in order to minimize their impacts in the places where they are developed», underline the five deputies.
The concern is with Galilei Imobiliária's Finalgarve project, «which intends to develop a large-scale project, in terms of infrastructure and built component, in Praia Grande, municipality of Silves, next to Lagoa dos Salgados, which is classified as a Protected Area Special (SPA) in the context of the Birds Directive has been claimed by several environmental organizations».
The parliamentarians recall that «this area is not even covered by the Natura 2000 Network or by the national network of Protected Areas, so it is the understanding of the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, that Lagoa dos Salgados does not have characteristics that justify its designation as SPAs, in particular, because it does not accommodate considerable herds of species listed in Annex I of the Birds Directive or of other species of regular migratory birds”.
On the other hand, that project is included in the Detailed Plan of the Operational Subunit for Planning and Management II of Praia Grande, which, having been published in 2008, «was not subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment, whose transposition of this Directive only occurred later».
Despite all this, stress the five Algarve parliamentarians, we are “before a project of a nature, size and location likely to cause environmental impacts that it is important to know and evaluate, so it will be justified to apply the preventive instrument of Environmental Impact Assessment to the project. (EIA) in order to ensure its environmental and territorial sustainability, as well as the protection of natural values and resources».
The PSD and CDS deputies admit that this EIA is not "mandatory under current legislation", but consider that it is "adjusted to apply the preventive measure of the exercise of EIA, in order to identify and know the impacts that will result from the implementation of the infrastructure and the built-up component of the aforementioned project”.
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