There is money to move forward with the work of navigability on the Guadiana River, as a result of the approval of candidacies by the Eurocity Ayamonte-Vila Real de Santo António (Euro AAA) for community funds, guaranteed the president of the Coordination and Regional Development Commission, also president of the Euroregion Algarve-Alentejo-Andalusia, on January 9th, during the Euro AAA Creation Ceremony.
Despite this assurance, David Santos was very cautious about the dates, since, he stressed, it is necessary for the environmental authorities on both sides of the border to sit at the same table, so that it is possible to move forward with the work.
Even so, that person in charge reaffirmed that he believes that the work can progress and be completed during 2013, at least in the section between Foz do Guadiana and Alcoutim. "Even Pomarão will be more difficult," he admitted.
At issue is an intervention “which is not very heavy” and therefore not very costly. David Santos preferred not to advance values, as the intervention's base of incidence has yet to be defined, but he guaranteed that what is at stake «is the removal of sand from specific points of the river and the marking», in other words, the marking of a waterway via buoys.
On the very day of the ceremony, Luís Gomes, Mayor of Vila Real de Santo António, considered the announcement that there are financial conditions to move towards the removal of much of the Lower Guadiana and that he intends to carry out the work this year as the "big news of the day".
“It is unacceptable that a river with the potential of the Guadiana has been asphyxiated for decades. I don't believe that there are many countries that, having a river like this, can abandon it and its resources”, said Luís Gomes.
Today, in a statement, the Chamber of VRSA welcomed «the decision of the Regional Coordination and Development Commission of the Algarve (CCDR), which pledged to move forward, still in 2013, with the navigability project of the Guadiana river».
Mayor Luís Gomes emphasizes that this advertisement "responds to an old pretension of the municipality and satisfies one of the main demands of entrepreneurs in Baixo Guadiana."
“Few countries have in common a river with the characteristics of the Guadiana and, as such, we cannot abandon this resource. This announcement by the CCDR is, therefore, one of the great commitments of 2013 for the development of the Algarve and a mark of understanding between two cross-border regions», notes the Vila-Realense mayor.
The work will be financed through the Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Program and will give priority to points on the river where there are currently greater difficulties in navigation.
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