The mayor of Vila Real de Santo António, who asked last week, together with his colleague from Faro, the urgent scheduling of an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Company -Polis Litoral Ria Formosa, says that, despite not being a shareholder of that entity, he has «every right to know what is going on».
In the letter they sent to Polis, mayors Luís Gomes and Rogério Bacalhau, both from the PSD, requested that the agenda include issues related to the interventions carried out and programmed in the area of the Ria Formosa Natural Park, within the framework of the requalification and enhancement of this natural area, namely demolitions.
They also asked that, within the scope of this Extraordinary Assembly, an assessment of the implementation of the Vilamoura-Vila Real de Santo António Coastal Waterfront Development Plan (POOC) be carried out.
In statements to the Sul Informação, the Vilarrealse mayor admits that his municipality “is not a shareholder of the Polis”. However, "we are members of its General Assembly, in which we have participated on other occasions".
Luís Gomes stresses that Vila Real de Santo António “is part of the Ria Formosa, despite having only a small part of its territory, in Cacela, integrated in the Natural Park. And, for that very reason, we have already had some projects involved within the scope of the Polis action, namely at the level of beaches».
The mayor of the city of Guadiana points out that, in his case, what interests him «not the demolitions, but the execution of the interventions planned for the Ria Formosa, under the responsibility of Sociedade Polis». «I don't question the demolitions, I want to know about the execution of the POOC».
In the letter sent to Polis Society, the presidents of the two Municipal Councils stated that, «taking into account the multiple interventions that are being carried out in terms of the renaturalization of the Ria Formosa, it is necessary to carry out an assessment and follow-up of this entire process with the mayors of the municipalities whose territories are part of this protected area”.
«On the other hand, this is the time to take stock of the execution and effectiveness of POOC Vilamoura – Vila Real de Santo António, bearing in mind that it focuses on population centers and sectors of activity that are fundamental to the Algarve's economy and is highlighted , next June, a decade after its publication», noted the mayors.
Although Luís Gomes says that this is not his main concern, for Rogério Bacalhau, president of the Chamber of Faro, the joint request is linked to the many news related to the acceptance of injunctions, by the Court, which prevented the Polis Society from taking possession of houses in the nucleus of the Farol, on Culatra Island, on Monday.
“We want to know what is going on with the renaturalization process that is underway. We know that there are precautionary measures, but we were not informed by the Polis Society about their consequences», said Rogério Bacalhau in statements to Sul Informação.
The Vilarreal mayor, who is also president of the PSD/Algarve, also criticized what he classed as "unilateral projects" of the Polis Society. “This is a process that should have been agreed with the Chambers and it wasn't. The Polis projects are advancing without any consultation with the population beforehand,” he said, referring specifically to the demolition of illegal houses on the barrier islands.
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