2012 was a particularly difficult year for the Algarve: it was in this year that the country's highest unemployment rate was reached, with the construction and tourism sectors being the hardest hit. It was also the year in which three tragedies – the fires in Serra do Caldeirão and the Retail Park in Portimão and the tornado in Lagoa and Silves, caused serious damage to the economy and to people's lives. It was also the year in which the works on the EN125 stopped or the Portimão/Funchal ferry ended. But there was also good news. Here is a review of the year that ended, in a selection made by journalists from Sul Informação.
January – Young people die in an illegal motorbike race in the port of Portimão
Two 17 and 19 year olds died in the early morning of January 28, when they collided head-on during an illegal motorbike race on the road next to the commercial wharf of Portimão. The two young men, both residents of this city and known to friends as Dani (from Daniel) and Rosti (short for Rostislav), died immediately and, although the INEM was still called, they were not even transported to the hospital.
January – Ferry Portimão/Funchal makes its last trip
Circus Dallas was one of the “passengers” of the last trip of the ferry «Volcan de Tijarafe», between Funchal and Portimão, on Sunday morning, January 30th. Spanish shipowner Naviera Armas had announced a few days before the closure of this link, due to the high costs of the port of Funchal and the alleged difficulties created by the Madeiran authorities.
January – Autódromo and Pavilhão do Arade stage for the world launch of the BMW Series3
18 people from China to Bahrain, from Qatar to the United States of America, a permanent staff of 600 people. Four 4 and 5 star hotels completely filled for three months. The Autodromo do Algarve was occupied during these 90 days. The Arade Pavilion serving as a parking lot for hundreds of brand new cars. These are just some of the numbers from the world launch of the new BMW 3 Series, which took place in the Algarve, during the month of January, February and March.
February – Ships for the underwater park «Ocean Revival» arrive in Portimão
The first of the ships to be sunk off Portimão to create an underwater diving park «Ocean Revival», the corvette «Oliveira e Carmo», arrived in Portimão on Friday, February 10, in the late afternoon, pulled by a powerful tugboat, after a somewhat troubled 26-hour journey from Alfeite, on the Tagus estuary. The second ship in the fleet to sink, the "Zambezi" patrol, arrived a few days later. The decontamination operations of the four ships that are to be sunk off Alvor, will cost 2,4 million euros.
February – Aprígio Santos sentenced to 2 years for an environmental crime in the Ria de Alvor
The businessman Aprígio Santos was convicted in february to two years in prison, with suspended sentence, for a crime of damage to nature and for the practice of crimes of disobedience in the Ria de Alvor, in a sentence handed down by the Criminal Court of Portimão. He was also sentenced to pay a fine, payable in six months, of 150 thousand euros, which should revert to Almargem – Association for the Defense of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the Algarve. These convictions for environmental crimes with such heavy penalties are unprecedented in Portugal. The businessman appealed the sentence.
March – EN125 works stop
The EN125 rehabilitation works stopped on March 23, due to the concessionaire's financial difficulties. The works, which were in progress with the construction of the Variant of Faro, the Lagos bypass, the Praia da Luz junction and the redevelopment of the section between Lagos and Vila do Bispo, with the construction of several roundabouts, as well as the S. Lourenço/Troto bypass and the EN395 bypass between Guia and Albufeira , were advancing at a very slow pace in the weeks before the stop.
April – Proceeding against Isabel Soares in the Viga d'Ouro case was dropped
The case against the mayor of Silves in the Viga d'Ouro case was archived, especially for having prescribed. However, the criminal investigation judge of the Court of Portimão considered that the factoring contracts had been made between the construction company Viga d'Ouro and a bank, thus not involving the Chamber.
April – Câmara presents new project for the beach bridge in Faro
O draft for a new bridge to the beach of Faro, with a well-defined traffic lane and pedestrian and cycling lanes, was presented on April 12th, by the Chamber of Faro . The preliminary project for the new accesses to the main bathing area of the municipality of Faro includes several improvements in access, especially for those who do not mind making the journey, between the curve next to the airport and the beach, on foot or by bicycle. It still remains to define the financing for this work.
May – Father Arsenio died
Father Arsénio Castro da Silva, known simply as Father Arsenio, responsible for the parish of Nossa Senhora do Amparo, in Portimão, died on May 14, victim of health problems that had plagued him for many months. His funeral, which took place the following day, was presided over by the Bishop of Algarve and attended by thousands of people.
May – Rota Vicentina officially launched
Rota Vicentina, a long-running pedestrian route that covers 340 kilometers on the southwest coast of Alentejo and Algarve, starting from Santiago de Cacém, passing through the municipalities of Sines, Odemira, Aljezur and Vila do Bispo, ending at Cabo de S. Vicente , it was launched officially on may 11. Rota Vicentina, which aims to promote nature tourism, is promoted by Associação Casas Brancas, in partnership with Almargem and the Town Councils of the municipalities crossed.
June – Government extends exemptions in Via do Infante for another three months
Payment exemptions for residents of Via do Infante and other former Scut in the country will be extended for another three months, that is, until the end of September, announced on June 29 the Ministry of Economy, in a statement. The exemptions on the A22 should end on June 30, according to the diploma initially released and which defined the collection of tolls on these roads.
June – Construction planned for Lagoa dos Salgados causes complaint to European Commission
The Almargem association presented a formal complaint to the European Commission due to the announced construction of villages and hotels in Lagoa dos Salgados, municipality of Silves, requesting that the community legislation be complied with and that a Special Protection Area (SPA) be created in that location.
July – Fire in the Serra do Caldeirão
The fire that would consume 26442 hectares in Serra do Caldeirão, over five days, started on July 18, near the village of Catraia, in the parish of Cachopo, in Tavira, and was only extinguished on the 22nd.
Poor coordination of the means to fight this fire, together with the general state of abandonment of a large part of the Algarve mountains, ended up causing this fire to destroy a vast area of cork oak, pine forest, bush, houses, agricultural implements, vegetable gardens, cars, leaving a smoking trail of destruction in the municipalities of Tavira and São Brás de Alportel, from which Serra do Caldeirão will have a hard time recovering.
In total, the two municipalities estimated the damage at 25 million euros. Despite all the damage, there were no human victims to mourn and there was a wave of solidarity never seen in the Algarve, with the firefighters and the affected populations.
July – Olympic Games start with four athletes from the Algarve
On July 27, the Olympic Games began in London, with the participation of four athletes Algarve: Ana Cabecinha, who would be 9th in the 20 km march, João Vieira (11th in the 20 km march, gave up in the 50 km), Telma Santos, who would debut in the badminton race, but would be eliminated in the second round, and Pedro Martins, who took the number 1 in the badminton world ranking from the front and was eliminated in the first round. Portugal came out of these Olympics with only a silver medal, for Fernando Pimenta and Emanuel Silva, in canoeing.
August – Possible dismissal of Macário Correia
Macário Correia saw the Supreme Administrative Court decree, in August, the loss of the current mandate in the Chamber of Faro following decisions taken when he was still the mayor of Tavira. The mayor appealed to the Constitutional Court, justifying that the process is based on "banalities".
August – Nuno Fernandes reaches 8th place in the Ironman race in Austria
The triathlete from Portimonense Nuno Fernandes was classified as August 26th in 8th position of their age group (18 to 24 years old), in the Ironman 70.3 race, held in Salzburg, Austria.
August – Swimmers complete the 19-kilometre connection between Batata (Lagos) and Carvoeiro (Lagoa) beaches
The swimmer Paulo Sousa, from O2 Portimão, was the only one to complete the very difficult task of running 19 kilometers to swim between the beaches of Batata (Lagos) and Carvoeiro (Lagoa), despite having left with the company of two other athletes – Mariana Santos and Francisco Freitas. But five swimmers arrived at Carvoeiro beach – the three already mentioned and also Sara Santos and Marta Catarino. It was on the 26th of August and the race, which was accompanied by dozens of people along the way, served as preparation for Paulo Sousa in 2013 to make his dream come true: the double swim crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.
September – Fire at the Retail Park in Portimão
In September, at 2:36 am on the 23rd, fire is again affecting the Algarve. This time, seven retail park stores in Portimão – Decathlon, De Borla, Aki, Staples, Continente, Moviflor and Rádio Popular – were completely reduced to plates twisted by a fire that started around 2:36 am and quickly destroyed everything.
Only the Feu Vert workshop, located at the west end of Retail Park, and the restaurant area, which is in a separate building, escaped the flames.
After the fire was out, the main concern has been the more than 300 jobs that were at stake. Some brands relocated their employees to other group stores, but many people became unemployed, with their fixed-term contracts not being renewed at the end of the term.
September – Anti-Troika demonstrations gather more than 8000 in Faro, Portimão and Loulé
More than eight thousand people participated, on September 15th, in anti-Troika demonstrations and against the government in Faro, Portimão and Loulé. There were those who considered these the most important manifestations since the post-April 25th, 1974 times.
October – Local Economy Support Plan
Several municipalities in the Algarve took the opportunity to apply, in October, to the Local Economy Support Plan (PAEL), a support line of one billion euros opened by the Government to help the Councils to pay off short-term debts. Portimão it was the municipality that asked for the highest amount. Vila Real de Santo António, Faro, Lagos, Albufeira and Olhão also resorted to this extraordinary support line.
October – Higher Education Cuts Lead Universities to Beat Government
The University of Algarve fought at the end of 2012, like other Portuguese Public Universities, against the announced cuts in funding for Higher Education Institutions, which in the case of the Algarve academy would reach 12 percent. A situation that, warned the Rector of UAlg João Guerreiro, would prevent the university from functioning in 2013. The Government backtracked and announced an additional budget for universities, which should lower the volume of cuts to around 5 percent for 2013 and in the case of UAlg, in relation to direct transfers from the State in 2012.
October – Two old navy ships sunk to create «Ocean Revival» park
On October 30, the two ships from the underwater diving park «Ocean Revival», in front of Alvor. First it was the corvette “Oliveira e Carmo” in the morning, then the patrol ship “Zambeze” in the afternoon. Everything was followed by hundreds of people in boats located at a safe distance, or on the coast. The television cameras and the photojournalists' lenses recorded the moment from every possible angle, even in the air and underwater.
November – Municipalities 2013 already move
2012 was the last complete calendar year in which some of the current Algarve mayors will be at the head of the Chambers they have run for a long time. However, two of the mayors who could not re-apply for the position they occupied, due to the term limitation law, have already left their positions. In November, Isabel Soares left the Chamber of Silves to Águas do Algarve, passing the place to his deputy Rogério Pinto, and Desidério Silva is now president of the Regional Tourism Authority of the Algarve, having passed the testimony of mayor of Albufeira to Jose Carlos Rolo. Also the mayors of São Brás de Alportel (António Eusébio), Loulé (Seruca Emídio), Olhão (Francisco Leal) and Lagos (Júlio Barroso) will not be able to re-apply.
November – Tornado in Lagoa and Silves
It took a few minutes for, on November 16, a tornado spread destruction in the municipalities of Lagoa and Silves. the tornado had winds between 256 and 295 km/h, a total length of 31 kilometers, between Carvoeiro and São Marcos da Serra, and a width between 100 and 300 meters. According to the final report of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere, it was a tornado qualified as F3, on the Fujita scale, or T6, on the Torro scale, which affected the Western Algarve between 13:20 and 14:00 UTC . Result: 5 million euros of losses, in houses, apartments, cars, public facilities (municipal swimming pools, stadium, city hall in Silves), as well as 13 wounded, two of them seriously, and many homeless, especially in Lagoa. One of the seriously injured, a 51-year-old woman, would eventually die in december.
December – AAUAlg reveals audit results on its accounts
At the Academic Association of the University of Algarve (AAUAlg), finance was an unavoidable topic throughout the year. The general management that took office in January, chaired by Pedro Barros, requested an audit of AAUAlg's accounts in February and revealed its result as early as December. The analysis detected a current liability which reached 876 thousand euros at the end of 2011. Currently, and after several financial restructuring measures and a restructuring carried out by the current management, as well as after taking out a loan of 350 thousand euros, the liabilities are now around 700 thousand euros. The continuation of AAUAlg's financial recovery will be, from January 7th, in the hands of Filipa Braz da Silva, the future president of the academic association (and the first woman to hold this position), who also belongs to the board still in office.
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