Tavira is still waiting for the works at the local Fishing Port, an intervention that was very close to being awarded, but whose process «stopped somewhere in Lisbon». The mayor of Tavira Jorge Botelho says he still has no guarantees that the process will be released this year, as the work has not been included in the State Budget, but he does not lose hope that a solution will be found.
«The Port of Tavira had a final report with an award proposal that stopped somewhere in Lisbon. (…) I have already spoken with the Secretary of State and we hope that there will be a solution very soon, for which conversations are already underway», he said.
Jorge Botelho does not reject that the solution is found this year. «I am a hopeful man. If I didn't and I didn't have the idea that I can change things, I wouldn't be mayor,” he said.
A few days after the Government passed the protection of the fishing and recreational ports of the long-defunct IPTM for Docapesca, Jorge Botelho was not enthusiastic or disillusioned with the decision, preferring to wait and see.
“There was a time when I was trying to figure out how this worked and nobody knew. Neither me nor anyone else. Often, I had the idea that the government official himself didn't know either (laughs)», he began by saying.
“More than the question of the organization that was chosen, what matters is that it works. We just have to know who to turn to in order to solve the problems. That's what's fundamental!», he considered. “What matters is that we are consistent. That we define the policies, that we launch the measures, that sources of financing are found and that they are executed”, he summed up.
The president of AMAL – Comunidade Intermunicipal do Algarve was the guest of the radio program «Impressões», organized jointly by the Sul Informação and by Rádio Universitária do Algarve RUA FM last Wednesday, when he took the opportunity to talk about various regional issues, including the 30 priority public works projects identified by the Working Group for High Value Infrastructure, created for the government.
In the Algarve, the highway was left out, but there will be investments in the Railway and Commercial Ports. «It seems to me good to bet on the Commercial Ports of Portimão and Faro, but there are a number of other ports, namely those for fishing, that have simply disappeared. And we have to have the idea that port structures in the Algarve are a vital sector for our primary activity. We have the capacity to be exporters of products and capital gains that come from the sea», he believes.
“Everyone has realized that regional structures are disappearing. (…) There is a total disqualification of everything that is deconcentrated power in the regions, we are increasingly going to Lisbon. That's why I say that the important thing is to solve the problems in the Algarve», he added.
Tavira lifeguard without a crew every day «is unsustainable»
Tavira may be deprived of the presence of the lifeguard crew for some of the seven days a week, starting in the summer, a situation that Jorge Botelho considers "unsustainable".
«There is the possibility that from June or July, the lifeguard will be placed in Vila Real de Santo António, for reasons of crew. We've already made it count and showed that this situation is unsustainable, because Barra de Tavira is an especially dangerous bar, which serves three fishing communities - Tavira, Santa Luzia and Cabanas - which may not be able to keep up with the crew occasionally being in Vila Real of Santo António”, he said.
If "there is a disgrace and the crew is out, it is a disgrace indeed," he considered. At this time, the "decision was suspended, for better decision, until the summer." "Let's see if common sense prevails and if the Ministry of Defense reinforces in resources, in line with the needs of fishing communities," he added.
Last weekend, after Jorge Botelho was at «Impressões», a boat with playful fishermen sank in that bar, accident that caused one death and one wounded. A tragedy that ends up giving more strength to the mayor's fears.
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