Social action, Mobility and Urban Requalification and Basic Public Services are the three priority areas of the Municipal Budget and Major Options of the Plan for Lagoa, in 2015.
The Municipal Budget (29.388.445 euros, that is, an increase of 7,2 percent compared to the current year) and the GOP (23.204.750 euros) have already been approved by the Municipal Assembly, on the 26th of November, by a majority , with the favorable votes of the PS and the abstentions of the PSD, CDU and BE.
Francisco Martins, president of the Chamber of Lagoa, told the Sul Informação that just for the Basic Essential Services (solid waste, sanitation and water supply) 1,5 million euros are foreseen.
"For many years, there was almost no investment in these areas and today the networks, structures and equipment are old and obsolete, bursting every day", stressed the mayor.
Hence, one of the priorities is, for example, “that we are able to cover the entire municipality with the water and sewage system, which is not happening now. This year we have already taken the water to Sobral, but much more investment is needed», stressed Francisco Martins.
As for Mobility and Urban Requalification, the mayor recalled that the revision of the Lagoa PDM is underway, with «the elaboration of the Strategic Plan, which cuts across all areas and sectors, is in progress». Mobility will involve, for example, the creation of «bike paths as they should be and not just a blue risk painted on the ground, with safety conditions».
Investments in that sector also involve, revealed the mayor, the creation of «the urban parks that we do not have». Thus, an urban park will be created in the area where the Lagoa Traffic School and the skate park are currently located, another will result from the redevelopment of an enclosure in Calvário and another will be located next to the Church of Ferragudo. «The idea is to create a public park in each parish, so that we all have somewhere to go when we leave the house, apart from the coffee».
The redevelopment of the area between Ponte Velha do Arade and Parchal, with the creation of a bike path and real pedestrian walks, is another planned investment.
Also with regard to Urban Requalification, within the city of Lagoa a work will be carried out that will alleviate the headaches of many parents and residents of Bairro Zeca Afonso. It's just that, announced Francisco Martins in an interview with Sul Informação, the City Council bought land next to the Lagoa Primary School, to build a variant between this teaching establishment and the Jacinto Correia School.
“Currently, parents who are going to take their children to school have nowhere to park, nor can they pass, because the streets are narrow. This also causes problems for the residents of the Bairro, because this situation, at certain times of the day, is a real chaos. With this variant, we are going to solve this serious traffic constraint», assured the mayor.
In the area of Social Support, the Chamber's bet will be “to start making greater investment in prevention. There will be new programs focused on that perspective of preventing social problems», revealed the mayor.
Francisco Martins: «With the variant between the primary school in Lagoa and Jacinto Correia, we are going to solve a serious traffic problem»
Despite not being among the three main priorities, Francisco Martins also announced, in statements to our newspaper, that in 2015 a “great bet on Culture” will be made. Next year will be, in thematic terms, dedicated to wine, and “a whole program in this direction is being prepared. There will be new events, but also some that will remain, such as the Lagoa Photography Meetings».
Within the scope of the year of wine, the municipality will also promote a Wine Fair, as well as «revitalize the Agrarian Festival of Lagoa», curiously a festivity linked to the Estado Novo, which glorified the agricultural sector of the municipality.
In order to affirm Lagoa as a tourist destination, «with its very own characteristics and attractions», the Chamber will, in 2015, invest in the promotion of the municipality, «by itself and with hotel agents in the municipality». Participation, with its own stand, in three major tourism fairs is already planned: the Bolsa de Turismo de Lisboa, Fitur in Madrid and the fair in Barcelona.
The Chamber of Lagoa also announces that another major priority will be “responding to Fatasul's difficult financial situation, budgeting the necessary funds for the implementation of FATACIL”.
Thus, in this field, taking into account that the future of Fatasul, "impossible to survive in the molds in which it was established", is now being discussed, and to avoid a "future with regard to the organization model of FATACIL", the Budget for 2015 envisages that the fair “be directly organized by the Municipal Services, because FATACIL is an important asset for the development, projection and knowledge of the Municipality of Lagoa”.
Francisco Martins: «Câmara de Lagoa will be present, with its own stand, in three major tourism fairs: Lisbon, Madrid and Barcelona»
The Municipal Budget and GOP for 2015 bet on the budgeted captivation of the 300 euros budget for the Participatory Budget, which allows, «for the first time in the history of the Municipality of Lagoa, the City Council to consult the population, in order to understand some of its anxieties, needs and opinions».
As a novelty, and unlike what happened in 2014 when the 2013 management balance was only reflected during the budget review, this Budget for the next year «includes and immediately adds part of the management balance, on behalf of the principles of planning and transparency'.
The Budget also includes Transfers to Parishes, in the total amount of 685.140 euros.
Together with the Budget, the executive sent for vote in the Municipal Assembly two documents of "special importance that project for the future the understanding of a modern, efficient municipal body aimed at the satisfaction of the citizen".
It is the Proposal to Change the Organic Structure and Change the Personnel Map, which were voted and approved by AM.
According to Francisco Martins, president of the Chamber of Lagoa, these documents «contemplate the need to adapt the human resources structure to a new, more decentralized work philosophy, with a greater degree of responsibility, more effective and more efficient, as it is their objective to work and organize the services in a profitable way, in a balanced and cohesive way in the long term, to better serve the citizens».
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