A wooden walkway with rest areas, 570 meters long, will be built until the end of the year between Algar Seco and the remains of the Nossa Senhora da Encarnação Fort, on Praia do Carvoeiro (Lagoa).
This is one of the most beautiful stretches of the Algarve coast, listed in the tourist guides, and every day it is usually covered by around 500 people. But so far, the route has been along a trail on the edge of the cliff, with no safety conditions, putting even tourists in danger.
Ending this risky situation is precisely one of the main objectives of the intervention, financed under the Litoral Program and which will cost 212 thousand euros.
To preside over the signing of the contract for the Walkway and Rail contract between Algar Seco and the Fort of Nossa Senhora da Encarnação, at Praia de Carvoeiro, he was in Lagoa, on Friday, the secretary of state for the environment.
The work, which is the result of a partnership between the Municipality of Lagoa and the Portuguese Environment Agency, under the Litoral Programme, is, according to Secretary of State Paulo Lemos, one of the three investments underway in the Algarve under that programme. There are also ongoing investments in Albufeira and Praia da Rocha, adding that «360 thousand euros are being invested in the Algarve».
Regarding the work on the coast of Lagoa, the mayor Francisco Martins pointed out that the bridge will make it possible for "more people and in conditions of greater safety to take advantage of that trail, including many people from Lagos who, perhaps, have never walked there". The mayor also stressed that the wooden walkway paid "great attention to people's mobility".
José Fernando Vieira, landscape architect and technician at the Chamber, said that this is, in fact, another major objective of the project: "we will have 500 meters of rail in our municipality that can be used by people with reduced mobility", which is how he stressed, “a niche in the tourist market that has been growing and has great potential in the Algarve”.
"The goal is that the cliff can be walked safely, even by people with limited mobility, and that the use of this area does not lead to trampling, causing the continuous degradation of that natural heritage that exists there." According to José Vieira, the project also involves the removal of some invasive plants existing on that stretch of coast and recovery of local species.
Outdoor amphitheater for later
António Marques, the architect responsible for the architecture office that conceived the project, added that, in addition to the construction of the raised walkway and wooden resting areas, there will also be urban furniture, interpretation signs, as well as the repair of the leading staircase. to Algar Seco.
In the session with the Secretary of State at the Chamber of Lagoa, the president of the Parish Council of Lagoa/Carvoeiro wanted to know what happened to the original project, which included the construction of a small open-air amphitheater next to the Fortress and Chapel of Our Lady of the Incarnation.
José Vieira explained that «dreams have some limitations in the times we are going through», while Secretary of State Paulo Lemos himself pointed out that, in 2012, the Coastal Program «was changed and the focus became on protecting people and goods». In other words, with this reorientation of the program, the bridge could be financed, but the amphitheater could not.
"The amphitheater will have more place in a regional PO than in a coastal protection program," added Paulo Lemos.
Bearing in mind that this is a project that has been carried over from the previous executive, the new mayor Francisco Martins announced, conciliatory: "we are going to talk and see if there is an alternative, even to include the requalification of the fort in its surroundings".
At the ceremony at the Câmara de Lagoa, the work contract was signed between the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), which is responsible for the work, in partnership with the Câmara de Lagoa, and the construction company.
The goal is for the bridge and the other interventions included in this project to be completed by the end of the year. However, Sebastião Teixeira, regional director of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), told the Sul Informação that the progress of the work will depend "on the time it makes". on the day of visit by the secretary of state, for example, it rained heavily…
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