Work on the EN125, between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António, should start this year and be completed by the end of 2016. This is the perspective of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), whose president António Ramalho assured the Sul Informação that efforts are being made to speed up the completion of the projects for the different planned interventions, so that the work can begin "as soon as possible".
«On the Olhão side, we hope to carry out interventions during the remainder of 2015 and throughout 2016. We have already done the different projects, so that this part of the EN125 is also requalified to Vila Real de Santo António», revealed the person responsible for public company, moments before the opening to circulation of the Northern Bypass of Faro.
Included in this set of contracts is the requalification of the Guadiana Bridge, under an agreement signed by IP with the Spanish authorities. “This is a work that is sometimes forgotten, but it is a very important point, as it is the entry into the country. It is quite degraded, although it does not pose security issues. In June, we signed the protocol with Spain, not only regarding the scheduling, but also the quantification of costs. This time, each one will pay, from the first hour, their share of the costs», he revealed.
“In practice, we are trying, with the acceleration of projects, to make up for the delays that our initial programming may have. In this sense, we are a quarter behind. What we want is not to have more than a quarter of delay in relation to what was discussed with the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL) and to be able to complete all the works in 2016. We would be very good if we were able to have the entire EN125 requalified at the end next year”, said António Ramalho.
If the works are only completed at the end of 2016, it would also be «six months behind the initial schedule», recalled AMAL president Jorge Botelho. “What matters is that the works are done as quickly as possible and that's our pressure. No more deaths on the EN125, no more lack of conditions for residents and tourists. Winter is coming and we want the works to take place outside the high season, to be completed before the summer», summarized Jorge Botelho, speaking to Sul Informação.
The Tavirense mayor also said that the entity that brings together the 16 municipalities of the Algarve has not yet been informed of the prospects of Infraestruturas de Portugal, as they are still waiting to meet with its officials.
«I was hoping to speak with the president of IP during the inauguration of the Northern Variant of Faro, but as the ceremony was cancelled, we ended up not meeting. We've already reinforced the request for an urgent meeting, to get the schedule right. At the moment, the work is clearly behind schedule», said the mayor of Tavira.
Across the EN125, enter Faro and Vila do Bispo, the works have been underway for a long time and some are even finished. This is the case of the Lagos Variant, opened on the 1st of July. Also open to car traffic, but still months of being fully completed, is the Northern Variant of Faro. The remaining interventions will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2016.
"We want to have everything completed in March 2016. In this summer period, it is not possible to make interventions on this road, so the idea is that, from September, we can complete, in force, the work that remains", he revealed to our newspaper the delegate administrator of the concessionaire Rotas do Algarve Litoral Rui Sousa.
The Troto Variant, in Almancil, where the works are proceeding at a good pace, should be inaugurated «at the end of October».
Work in Sotavento should have started after the summer of 2014
The discrepancy between the deadlines for carrying out the works in these two areas of the EN125 is linked to the decision to withdraw all the interventions that the concessionaire Rotas do Algarve Litoral had the competence to carry out, under the initial contract signed in 2009.
A renegotiation of this contract, in 2013, withdrew from the concession the section of the EN125 between Olhão and Vila real de Santo António, transferring part of the works planned here to the scope of the then Estradas de Portugal, which after the recent merger with REFER, took place. to call Infrastructures of Portugal. A measure that, according to the Government, saved more than 400 million euros.
This cost reduction is closely linked to the suppression of several interventions, which will not go forward, at least for any time soon. Among them are the Olhão bypass, the Luz de Tavira bypass and the Odiáxere bypass, as well as the connection to Faro to São Brás de Alportel (EN2) and from Albufeira to Guia (IC1), where the works had already started.
In July 2014, month for which the restart of works was scheduled, the mayor of Loulé Vítor Aleixo he accused Estradas de Portugal of "deceiving the Algarvians", with the announcement of the restart of the EN125 requalification.
A few months later, it was Luís Gomes, president of the Chamber of VRSA and of the PSD/Algarve, who considered that «the mayors of Sotavento were deceived» by the company, as it was communicated to the algarvian mayors that the works would start after the summer of 2014, but have not yet started in Sotavento.
For the works on the EN125, between Olhão and Tavira, 13,5 million euros are earmarked, to which more than 10 million euros are earmarked for the renovation of the Guadiana Bridge.
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