The Citizens' Spaces of Alcoutim, Portimão, Alvor, Monchique, Lagos and Ferragudo were inaugurated this Monday by the Secretary of State for Administrative Modernization.
For Secretary of State Joaquim Pedro Cardoso da Costa, these spaces allow for greater proximity between the State and its citizens. The idea is to simplify users' access to different types of public administration services. “We are providing a better service with the involvement of the central administration, city councils and parish councils”, said the government official.
The services of Espaço do Cidadão, promoted by the Administrative Modernization Agency, in partnership with local authorities, allow you to deal with various issues of 11 public services, through access to the Citizen's Portal, and request, for example, the card's address to be changed. of Citizenship, obtain civil, land and commercial registration certificates, renew the driver's license, deliver documentation to ADSE, among many other services, avoiding travel to Faro.
In Portimão, mayor Isilda Gomes highlighted the importance of this partnership between the municipality and the central government, which aims to increase responses to citizens and allow more people to come to the city center.
In this city, the Citizen's Space now operates at the Balcão Único Municipal, located on Rua do Comércio. In Alvor, the new service is installed at the Parish Council.
Citizens who go to the Balcão Único Municipal will be able to access locally the digital services provided by the Central and Local Administration, providing them with a more convenient, faster and closer service model.
Balcão Único Municipal opened its doors in October 2014 and concentrates the public service of all services of the Municipality of Portimão, also functioning as a service counter for EMARP, AHRESP's business one-stop shop and as of this Monday, as an Space of Citizen of the Agency for Administrative Modernization.
In the municipality of Portimão, three Citizens' Spaces will be created, with the one in Portimão and Alvor already in full operation and the opening is expected soon in Mexilhoeira Grande, which, according to the municipality, «will bring benefits to the citizens in terms of reducing bureaucracy and saving time'. These places, made available by the Municipality of Portimão, and the parishes of Alvor and Mexilhoeira Grande, aim to facilitate the access of citizens to care services.
In Monchique, Espaço do Cidadão and Balcão Único Municipal are located in the Paços do Concelho.
In this municipality, as of yesterday, in addition to the innovative service initiative, there is also the Balcão Único Municipal. Thus, «in addition to the digital assistance provided to the citizen in relation to the Public Administration, this space is also the place where all citizens can deal with matters related to the Services of the Municipality of Monchique».
For President Rui André, «this is an asset for the council and for its residents, who from now on can deal with issues that until now would have to deal with in Faro or in other places outside the county».
The mayor stressed the importance of these services being endowed with qualified professionals «duly qualified and trained to help the population in carrying out the operations associated with this service, since the county has a very elderly population».
The mayor of Monchique also said that the creation of the Citizen's Space «also ended up encouraging the creation of the One-Stop Service Desk for Municipal Council Services, a desire that had been fueled even by the need and issues related to the Paços do Municipality, which contributes even more to the optimization and excellence in service and service to the population, now closer, with more services, greater convenience and better service».
In Ferragudo, the new Citizen's Space is now installed in the Parish Council building, where adaptation works were carried out and the necessary equipment installed for its operation.
Following the protocol signed between the Lagoa City Council and the Agency for Administrative Modernization, it is also planned to open another Citizen's Space this year, in Porches, at the D. Dinis Cultural Centre, which will be subject to works by refurbishment of the entire building funded by the municipality.
In Alcoutim, the new Citizen's Space operates on the premises of the City Council, from Monday to Friday, between 08:30 am and 13:00 pm and between 14:00 pm and 16:30 pm.
During the inauguration, the president of the Chamber Osvaldo dos Santos Gonçalves announced the inauguration, “possibly during the month of next July”, of a second Citizen's Space in Martim Longo.
According to the mayor, "the creation of these two spaces will be one more contribution to the promotion of social and territorial cohesion in the county", adding that "the daily struggle waged in low-density territories, in an attempt to reduce asymmetries between coast and interior , is not sympathetic to processes of reduction in the provision of public services”.
In his intervention, he also referred that “ensure that the current presence of the State in the territory, through the departments of Finance, Social Security and others, in office, would never be called into question, through a competitive way of these services, was a concern that we expressed, since the beginning of this process”.
“It is not about reducing services, but about expanding the offer”, underlined the president of the City Council.
For his part, Secretary of State Cardoso da Costa said he hopes that, in the coming months, citizen spaces will be born "like mushrooms" across the country, noting that they are places that provide contact with various public entities. “This digital service model is essential as it combines human service with the digital public service”, said the Secretary of State.
In Lagos, the Citizen's Space, also inaugurated yesterday by the Secretary of State, was installed in the XXI Century Town Hall Building.
Updated at 11:43 am, adding information about Alcoutim.
Updated at 17:00 pm, adding photos of the opening in Lagos.
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