The construction of the headquarters of the District Relief Operations Command of Faro and the Loulé Logistic Support Base (BAL), structures that will be located in the municipality of Loulé, will finally move forward.
For this purpose, the Minister of Internal Administration was this Sunday in Quarteira, to ratify the two protocols that allow the start of works that the City Council considers to be «of special importance for the municipality of Loulé and for the Algarve region». The protocol for the construction of the new headquarters of the CDOS had not been signed about a month ago, in the previous visit of minister Anabela Rodrigues to the Algarve.
The new Civil Protection building in the district of Faro will be located next to the Fire Station in Loulé, benefiting from a centrality with access to the main communication routes in the Algarve.
«The location of the future Command, outside the urban center, along a penetrating road in the district with great capacity for outflowing the distribution of resources, will bring an efficiency that is further enhanced by the location next to the Permanent Service Helicopter Base and a Corps of Fire Brigade, promoting the creation of a highly operational protection and relief center», referred Francisco Grave Pereira, president of the National Civil Protection Authority.
This work has an estimated cost of 1 million and 250 thousand euros.
As for the BAL de Loulé, one of the five planned throughout the country, the facilities will be located in front of the Quarteira Cemetery, in a building that is in rubble.
“We were able to find a solution to solve a problem that embarrassed us. The installation of this infrastructure in Quarteira will be an asset”, highlighted Chamber president Vítor Aleixo.
This logistical unit will directly support and support the development and support of protection and relief operations, serving the entire region.
Despite the signing of the protocols, the financing of the works is still not assured. The National Civil Protection Authority will shortly present an application for co-financing of both interventions, through the Cohesion Fund under the domain "Axis II - Promoting adaptation to climate change and the prevention and management of risks" of the Program Operational Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources (PO SEUR).
The new headquarters of the CDOS and the BAL are part of the Civil Protection device, which includes the District Relief Operations Commands, as well as other facilities such as the Special Fire Force Headquarters, the Air Resources Centers, the Logistic Support Bases and the Logistic Reserve Units.
“The creation of this new network of District Commands counts, in each district, with the partnership of an Autarchy, seeking to obtain synergies between protection and relief facilities of different nature”, said the president of the National Authority.
Minister Anabela Rodrigues also praised the partnership between the local government and the central government in the area of Civil Protection.
«More than a purist vision of the competences of each one, of the levels of administration of the State, a joint action of all is necessary, based on close and fruitful collaboration, for the benefit of the country and the citizens. This collaboration between the National Civil Protection Authority and the Municipality of Loulé reflects an integrated vision of the country and the State, where the optimization of resources and the partnership between entities culminates in a better public service. It is a good example of this cooperation between the central and local authorities and which is bearing good results throughout the country», considered the government official.
The inauguration of the new support facilities for the Helicopter Base in Permanent Service in Loulé, about a month ago, constitutes the «materialization of this cooperation», he added.
Also in 2014, when Miguel Macedo was responsible for the Internal Administration portfolio, the Municipality signed another protocol approved by the then minister, through which the municipality will invest around 1,2 million euros in the adaptation and restoration of facilities for the GNR military throughout the county.
Municipality of Loulé with extensive work in the area of Civil Protection
As forest fires and the risk of seismic activity are the main vulnerabilities of the municipality of Loulé, in an extensive territory, the Municipality has carried out a «demanding and responsible» work in the area of Civil Protection, based on three axes, according to the President of the City Council.
First, through a “formal or legal route”, with the approval of the Municipal Emergency Plan, as a result of the work carried out by the Municipal Civil Protection Service.
Another of the axes concerns the "training path" and aims to promote and develop a culture of safety.
The annual holding of a Seminar on Civil Protection that has brought together specialists throughout its editions, in a forum for sharing experiences and knowledge, awareness-raising actions with the school community, the self-protection project in housing condominiums, actions to disseminate self-protection measures and procedures to be taken in the event of forest fires in rural population agglomerations in the interior and also the adhesion to the ClimAdaPT.Local Project are some of the areas of intervention of the Municipality, with a view to involving the community in this matter.
"We want to inform residents about the risks they are subject to in the place where they live and explain to them how they should react to these same risks is essential when you want to improve the effectiveness of prevention systems in order to mitigate the consequences whenever events occur. extreme gravity”, explained Vítor Aleixo.
The mayor also mentioned a third way in the work of the Municipality and which concerns institutional cooperation, namely with the National Civil Protection Authority.
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