The Secretary of State for Transport Sérgio Monteiro "owes an apology" to the Algarve for the "threat" of not having money to electrify the rest of the Algarve Line, if the State has to rescue the work on the EN 125, considered the movement "Save Faro, with the Heart” (CFC-SF). A position that "offended the Algarvians" and that "is not tolerable", they say.
The Government member's statements were made during a public discussion session on the results of the report of the Value Added Infrastructures (IEVA) working group, which took place in Faro last week. An initiative that, for the movement, «couldn't have gone worse» because, in addition to the «threat» of the member of the Government, the members of the board «presented themselves with “a handful of almost nothing”».
«Instead of apologizing for the fact that the works of a sub-concession that the State made five years ago are at a standstill, [Sérgio Monteiro] went on the attack, wanting a heavy penalty for the Algarve. That is already double, with the huge delays in requalification and tolls on Via do Infante, and that it would be triple in wanting to cancel other essential investments», considers the structure that supported José Vitorino's candidacy for the Chamber of Faro.
For the movement, «Terreiro do Paço still does not want to notice, nor to care, that the EN 125 is a road of death, which blocks the Algarve economy and society and demotes the Algarve to foreigners».
The «Save Faro» it also requires the end of tolls on Via do Infante and an «Algarve/Andalusia railway axis». «In addition to other measures, in order to attract enough visitors and combat seasonality, it is absolutely essential to open the Algarve/Andalusia railway axis and put an end to tolls, to win over 8,5 million Andalusians right next door. And it will be with this broad vision of the future that the railway in the Algarve will be remodeled, with a new route surrounding the City of Faro and with connection to the airport», he said.
During the public discussion, José Vitorino recalled that there is a Spanish region next door, Andalusia, "with 8,5 million inhabitants", of which "one million are already there".
The question of connecting the Algarve Line to Spain depends on Spain's decision to complete a long-standing project to bring the railway to the border, explained IEVA spokesperson for railway issues José Manuel Wanton. An issue to be negotiated with Spain, he said, which would be of all interest to the Algarve and Portugal, he admitted.
«Relevant are also the commercial and cruise ports of Portimão and Faro (has to be operationalized with the tourist aspect) and recreational docks, in the case of Faro always promised but not advancing», adds the movement.
«In the regional and national interest (strong contribution of the Algarve's tourism in the sale of goods and services abroad), with clarity and without subservience and a strong union of citizenship, we must demand respect from Lisbon and what is right», concludes the "To save Faro, with the heart".
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