The Environmental Impact Study of the Alma Plaza Lifestyle Center project, a shopping center to be built in Almancil, should not be approved, in order «to oblige the developer to review its project, namely by integrating it into the urban fabric of Almancil», he argued the Almargem Environmentalist Association, following the Public Consultation process for this project.
The association does not question the progress of the project, but considers "that in the village of Almancil and surrounding areas it would be possible to find much more suitable land", accusing the EIA of being "obviously too vague" when it comes to talking about alternatives for localization.
«The Almargem Association does not dispute the need to promote the development of economic activities, especially at a time of crisis such as the one we are going through, but it cannot fail to ignore the social and environmental impact that these can generate when they appear incompatible with the preservation of natural values. and contrary to the interests of traditional commerce and the adequate dynamization of urban centers», defend the Algarve environmentalists.
The Alma Plaza shopping center, belonging to the Algarve group Apolónia, “will occupy and destroy a green area integrated in one of the Coastal Ecological Corridors foreseen in the Regional Structure for Environmental Protection and Enhancement of PROTAL, consisting of a valuable population of cork oaks”.
The existence of 176 specimens of this protected species is focused on in the EIA. The document states that the project to be built will lead to the felling of 93 of these trees. In compensation, the project promoter presented a project to plant cork oaks and holm oaks in a land of more than 13 hectares, in Alcoutim.
Despite the compensatory measures, Almargem recalls that, «according to the existing legislation (Decree-Law No. 169/2001, amended by Decree-Law No. 155/2004), cork oak harvesting in these circumstances can only be done if they do not exist. location alternatives and if the development in question has an “essential public utility”».
As for location alternatives, the environmental association considers that there are several, very close. "As for the public utility, the fact is that we are facing a development that pursues an interest exclusively of private use and not of collective use, moreover facing a very specific range of customers, specifically the tourist population of the so-called Golden Triangle ( Quinta do Lago, Vale de Lobo, Vilamoura)”, they defend.
Thus, Almargem asks the Portuguese Environment Agency, the entity that oversees the EIA processes, «to issue a declaration of unfavorable environmental impact for the Alma Plaza Lifestyle Center Shopping Complex, in order to oblige the promoter to review its project» and to change the location, «in order to reinforce the social and cultural dynamics of the village, with the support of the resident population and local merchants».
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