The Municipality of Portimão "still does not have a defined program for the land" that the municipality will exchange with the parish, in exchange for the building of the former Caixa Agrícola, in the city centre, admitted a source in the mayor's office, speaking to the Sul Informação.
The exchange between the building of the former Caixa Agrícola de Portimão, acquired by the local authority, and a three-hectare plot owned by the parish, both with a value of one million euros, was approved by the Municipal Assembly of Portimão, on 27 February May.
According to the newspaper Sunday sheet, of the 22 deputies of the Municipal Assembly, 19 voted in favor (PS, PSD, Servir Portimão, Bloco de Esquerda and the three presidents of the Parish Council) and three abstained (CDU).
The exchange had already been approved in a Chamber session on February 10, with the favorable votes of the PS, the Servir Portimão coalition, of the Left Bloc, with the CDU abstaining. At the time, he voted against councilor Pedro Xavier, who, despite being a member of the permanent executive, was elected by the PSD and since then suspended by the party.
The building where the Caixa Agrícola de Portimão operated, in the city center, is owned by the Portimão Chamber, which acquired it in 2010 with the aim of installing a hub of creative industries, having operated there, until about a year and a half ago, the ETIC_Algarve school, who already shared, sometimes with difficulty, the space with some services linked to the parish.
It consists of a basement and four floors, each with an area of about 300 square meters, and is now intended to house the Parish Center.
The services of Caritas Paroquial already work in the basement (service, food bank, clothing and technical assistance, solidarity store). Beside, there is the Cantina Social, inaugurated in February, operating in an old restaurant acquired by the parish. On the ground floor, there is also a parish hall, with a capacity for 200 people.
On the first floor, the parish will build six catechetical rooms, secretariat and a chapel-oratory, where catechetical groups or adults can pray, thus deactivating the space where catechesis currently works, at the back of the Mother Church, where a social ATL should then be created.
On the second floor, the headquarters of Group 159 of the National Scouts Corps is already functioning. Finally, on the third floor, the auditorium/living room will function.
The three-hectare plot, which belonged to the parish and is now transferred to Portimão Town Hall, is located in the area of Boavista, near the Pedagogical Farm, the west of the former Regional Directorate of Agriculture. What will be the fate of this land is still to be defined.
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