Works on the EN125, more works at the Airport, bad weather, fires, oil exploration, lack of doctors, inaugurations, exchanges of seats in public offices and, at the same time, a year of records in Tourism: that's what 2016 was like in the Algarve.
Remember here, month by month, through the work done by Sul Informação, how was this year that ended:
January
The election of the new President of the Republic, on the 25th of January, was one of the most relevant events of the year in Portugal. In the Algarve, the voting results gave victory to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, but the margin of victory would have forced a second round, had the Algarve region been the country. Record here the results.
Also in politics, but at the regional level, there was an exchange of chairs. Luís Gomes is no longer the president of the PSD/Algarve and was replaced by David Santos.
2016 was a year marked by two fractured themes in the Algarve: health and oil exploration. If, in the case of health, it was known in January that the Ministry of Health planned incentives for the establishment of doctors in the Algarve, in relation to oil, Prime Minister António Costa did not let the Algarvians rest, ensuring that prospecting for hydrocarbons was to continue. However, days later, a "window of hope" with the Secretary of State for Energy to show availability to reassess the concession contracts.
In Culture, Azul – Algarve Theater Network was born and, in football, Portimonense was on the rise and after have won Sporting in the League Cup, qualified for the semi-finals of the race in Paços de Ferreira.
Still in January, the increase in tolls on Via do Infante was known, which only happened on the section between Tavira and Monte Gordo.
A Vilamoura Marina stood out by being considered the International Marina of the Year 2016.
February
The month of February started with a scare. A bomb threat on a TAP plane put the airport in Faro on orange alert, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
Many of the people who will accompany us will arrive by plane in Portimão, the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup, which will be held again in the municipality in 2017.
From air transport, let's move on to rail. It was in February that the minister of Planning and Infrastructure announced that the electrification of the Algarve's railway line was going to go ahead, with an investment of 31,6 million euros.
On the roads, the news was not of advances, but of stagnation in relation to works on the EN125.
In February, it arrived good news to Albufeira. To help offset the damage caused by the floods of November 1, 2015, funds from the Municipal Emergency Fund, in the amount of 798 thousand euros, were made available.
From the sky can come rain, but it can also come snow and that's what happened in Monchique on the 27th of February, causing a pilgrimage to Alto da Fóia.
March
Rodrigo Lapa's disappearance marked the beginning of the third month of the year. The case ended up having the most tragic outcome, with the young man to be found dead in the back of his house. a family friend compared this situation to the Joana case.
The situation of refugees marked the year 2016 and it was in March that the Algarve welcomed the first people in this situation, coming from Syria, Yemen or Iraq.
Health was one of the hot topics of 2016 and the Hospital Center of the Algarve changed its Board of Directors. Joaquim Ramalho took office and the minister set the goal of solving most of the problems in this area in the region by May. It wasn't quite like that, but let's go.
In March, the fight against oil exploration in the Algarve was at its height and the municipalities went to court to stop this possibility.
In various public sectors, there were entries and exits. This was the case of the IEFP, where Madalena Feu assumed the position of regional delegate, and Social Security, where Maria Margarida Alves became the director of the District Center of Faro.
In the municipality of Portimão, a long-awaited project was launched: the Companheira WWTP, which will allow the inhabitants of that area to open their windows to receive fresh air in the morning.
The issue of demolitions in Ria Formosa also carried over from 2015 to 2016 and, in March, the chameleon once again stopped the progress of the destruction of dwellings in the Faroread in Hangars.
April
In Portimão, Abril started with good news for the municipality's coffers, with the prior approval of the application to the Municipal Support Fund, in the amount of 137 million euros.
Already in Faro, it was not for lack of money that the works on the access to Praia de Faro seemed to be standing still, but rather for lack of material.
The crime was committed in Alcoutim, but it was in Faro that a 20 year old was caught, after having murdered an English man.
In April, it was already starting to look forward to a good year in Tourism and they contributed a lot to this the many French who arrived in the Algarve through the airport of Faro. Some of them will have climbed the mountain and stayed at the new hotel that opened in Monchique, in June, the McDonald Monchique Resort & Spa
On April 17th, an accident on the airport road from Faro made one dead and three wounded, in one of the accidents with the highest number of victims in the region throughout the year.
In sport, a new club emerged, the Algarve Clube de Futebol, that aims to reach the first league in a short period of time.
The works at the Companheira WWTP, in Portimão, led to the discovery of a cave with traces of occupation from more than 40 thousand years agobut the archaeological finds did not prevent the work from advancing.
In Aljezur, drilling by a company linked to Sousa Cintra, owner of Portfuel, raised suspicions that they were looking for something more than water. The Portuguese Environment Agency ended up suspending the holes.
May
Three new beaches in the Algarve won a blue flag in 2016 e Faro won a renewed University Radio.
The “thousand rains” of April arrived in May and provoked floods in Faro, but without causing victims. The floods also forced the cut the bridges of Asseca, in Tavira, and Barão, in Loulé.
The fight against oil continued and Vítor Guerreiro, mayor of São Brás de Alportel, he even promised to put himself in front of the machines, if hydrocarbon exploration advanced.
Throughout the year, several measures were announced to help solve the health problems in the Algarve. In May, it was revealed that 30 new family doctors were going to arrive in the region and more incentives for the retention of clinicians were known.
May was also the month when the Prime Minister António Costa visited the Algarve as head of government and leader of the PS.
Portimonense fought until the end, but could not win the promotion of the division in the II League, after having drawn, in the last round, against Varzim. At the end of the month, too the Futsal team would eventually fail to climb to the top level of the sport.
Farense, in football, did not avoid the “fall” for the Portuguese Championship.
Another accident, this time with an 18 year old motorcyclist, increased the number of deaths on the Algarve's roads in 2016.
The Academic Week came back to life Farobut the heavy rain forced the cancellation of the concerts on the last day. The Academic Association she was forced to return the money for the tickets.
On 26th May, a black cloud, visible from several kilometers away, painted the skies of the Algarve. Its origin was a fire in a tire warehouse in Algoz.
Three days later a large object was also in the skies of the Algarve: a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, whose landing at the airport of Faro it was "an event".
June
June 1st marked the inauguration of the roundabout accessing the North by-pass to Faro and the EN2, and brought the Secretary of State for Infrastructure to the Algarve, who guaranteed that the works in the EN125 would stop on June 30, so as not to damage the region's image during high season.
June was also the month when David Santos ceased to be the president of CCDR Algarve, after being dismissed by the Government. Francisco Serra replaced him in the post.
Loulé was the Municipality of the Year in the Algarve. The delivery ceremony took place in Sagres, in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, which was the winner of the Municipality of the Year award, at national level, in the previous year.
The "iron arm" between autarchies and consortia for oil exploration had another episode, with the Loulé Council to refuse the use of the Heliport to support Repsol/Partex's exploration in the region.
In the area of Culture, the Algarve opened another museum, this time the Slavery Museum, in Lagos.
With the football championships stopped, the 12 hours of Portimão, in motorcycling, were one of the events of the year in terms of sport. Despite being reinforced with Miguel Oliveira, the Algarve team could not finish the race.
The Chamber of Faro announced that it had 4,3 million euros for investment in the municipality and the proposal was unanimously approved by the councilors, but…
With summer at hand, the works at the entrance to the beach of Faro. Also in need of work was the social housing building that suffered a fire, causing 9 injuries.
The first numbers of Tourism began to be known and gave good indications. Between January and April, the Algarve had over half a million overnight stays.
Many of these tourists came from Great Britain, which opted for “Brexit”. O Sul Informação was to know what could change in the region.
Keeping an open road for the Primeira Liga was also Portimonense's goal when was hiring Vítor Oliveira for the technical command of the club. A sentence will only be known in May 2017 (maybe before).
The court's decision on Macário Correia, accused of four crimes of prevarication of public office holder, was that of condemn the former mayor of Tavira and Faro to four years and six months in prison, with a suspended sentence.
July
July can be seen as the month in which the first signs began to emerge that the fight against oil prospecting and exploration in the Algarve, particularly on land, could be won.
On the first day of the month, the Assembly of the Republic approved a motion to suspend oil concessions and two weeks later, the 16 Algarve chambers appealed to the courts to try to stop Government contracts with Portfuel de Sousa Cintra. Before the month ends, the Galp/Eni consortium announced that it would postpone the borehole that it planned to start in October.
Na Serra de São Brás de Alportel Fair, which had many new features in 2016, the minister of economy admitted that there were "serious flaws in the contracts" with Portfuel, who could justify their termination, which ended up happening in December.
But during the first two weeks of July, what was on the minds of the Algarve was the ride of the National Football Team, at the European Championship, in France. It was already this month that the passage to the semi-finals of the competition was celebrated.what the region exploded with joy with Portugal's victory at Euro2016.
The explosions stopped here, and thankfully, since Faro lived moments of tension, due to a grenade-like device that was left on the public road. The police sealed the area and removed what if it turned out to be just a replica.
very real it was the fire that broke out in Monchique, which still scared, but it's over for being overpowered in a few hours by firefighters.
It was also this month that it was announced a 15 percent reduction in the value of tolls on Via do Infante, as of August.
July was also marked by approval of the Amending Budget of Faro, introducing around 4,3 million euros for investment, which the Farense Chamber was eventually prevented from applying.
But that's not why inaugurations were stopped, right from the start das Quatro Águas and Marginal de Santa Luzia, in Tavira, after requalification, but also Café Aliança, which reopened its doors after years of being closed.
the algarvian capital was once again "invaded" by bikers from all over the world, who showed their irreverence and imagination, at the same time as Odemira showed, on Faceco, the best it has to offer. In Loulé, the animation was guaranteed by another edition of Festival MED.
August
In August, the Algarve was filled with tourists, even more than usual, and this was noticed in the economy, with the Algarve Tourism Region announcing the best year ever for Algarve tourism and unemployment to drop to 8,1%, the lowest rate in the countrys.
Those who already live here and the many more who were visiting the region, there was no lack of distractions. Among them, events already established, such as the Fatacil, in Lagoa, Silves Medieval Fair: Festival do Marisco and os Medieval Days of Castro Marim, but also the Baixa Street Fest, in Faro, which in the first edition «exceeded the expectations» of the local authorityl.
Don't think, however, that the month went by without a hitch. These arose by the action of the elements, namely fire, who worked in São Bartolomeu de Messines and forced evacuating people from their homes, and the land and the sea, whose "conflict" led to the collapse of a cliff on Maria Luísa beach, in Albufeira, this time without causing victims, unlike what happened a few years ago.
Another highlight of the month was the sixth place achieved by the Algarve Ana Cabecinha in the Athletic March event, at the Olympic Games. The marcher of Clube Oriental do Pechão and her coach Paulo Murta were received in a party in their land, the village of the municipality of Olhão, and unveiled to Sul Informação the secret of the success of this small club.
The month of August was also marked by the decision of the former directors of the IEFP in the region (and beyond) appealed to court, to contest their removal from office, at the beginning of the year.
In between, there was another sign of hope for those who contested the exploration of hydrocarbons in the Algarve, the announcement of the Repsol/Partex's postponement of prospecting.
September
In September, the great fires returned to the region and caused days of alarm for the populations of Monchique, Portimão and Silves and a lot of work for the firefighters.
Os first fire spots appeared on the 3rd, in a strange sequence that was quickly confirmed to have a criminal hand, after a man was caught in the act of setting a fire in Foia. the fire would end dominated the next day.
But when you thought that everything was resolved and the weekend fire balances were already being made, the flames erupted again in the border area between the municipalities of Monchique and Portimão, with redoubled strength, on the 7th.
It took three days to quell this fire, which had its most critical point in the day 8, with firefighters preparing for a difficult night due to the strong wind that was being felt. The next day, at the end of the afternoon, the fire was finally extinguished. Back, left more than 4400 hectares on fire.
Meanwhile, summer was drawing to a close and with it the great summer events. Even so, there was no lack of an F Festival with record attendanceOn Faro, and new edition of the Mediterranean Diet Fair, in Tavira.
In September, it was announced that it would achieve a record number of 7,5 million passengers at the airport of Faro.
This was also the month for welcoming new students to the University of Algarve, which brought the theme of practices back to the order of the day. The dean of UAlg imposed strict rules, the student representatives contested the measure, but that didn't stop them from setting an example, betting heavily on solidary practices.
The month would not end without a new controversy linked to the demolitions. The Polis Ria Formosa Society relaunched the process of taking possession of houses in the Faroread in the hangars, which led to a controversy involving the Minister of the Environment and that would culminate in the resignation of the president of the Sociedade Polis Ria Formosa, the following month.
October
Um tornado in Olhão, on a day when bad weather ravaged the region and wreaked havoc, was one of the events that marked the present in the Algarve, in October.
But there was another type of "dark clouds" that cleared, namely the accounts of two municipalities, with the approval of candidacies for the Portimão Municipal Support Fund quality Vila Real de Santo António.
By Faro, in the same month it was laying the foundation stone of the long-claimed new WWTP Faro/ Olhão, was known the negative opinion of the Secretary of State for the Budget to the Chamber's investment plan, which intended to take advantage of funds carried over from the previous year.
In the Algarve capital, it was also in the news the high state of degradation of the Recreational Dock, situation that Docapesca promised to solve in 2017.
The month was also lively for the resignation of the president of Polis Ria Formosa Sebastião Teixeira, who left criticism to the way the Government handled the issue of demolitions at the time of farewell.
Meanwhile, many 365 Algarve initiatives were already underway, cultural program launched with a view to boosting tourism in the low season, which began in October and lasts until May.
What does not help tourism is the impasse in the construction of the EN125, whose restart was pointed out «towards the end of the year or beginning of 2017» by the minister of Planning and Infrastructure, on a visit to the Algarve.
Still in the political field, the varnish broke out between the PSD council of Castro Marim and the local mayor, elected by this party. The withdrawal of political confidence from the local structure of the party did not prevent Francisco Amaral from announcing his re-candidacy, with PSD/Algarve finally confirming its support.
In Sagres, the month started with people from all over Europe looking at the sky, in a new edition of the Birdwatching Festival.
November
An edition of the Sweet Potato Festival which, for the first time, combined arts and culture with gastronomy, opened the month of November, where urban rehabilitation (but also degradation) was highlighted.
An example of this was the strong opposition to the plan for the Historic Zone of Olhão, namely a 21-meter tall tower that he planned, however "crossed out" by the Chamber.
In São Brás de Alportel were the works in the Largo de São Sebastião that made people talk. At the end of the month, there was a return to talk about urban regeneration in Olhão, due to the partial fall of a vacant building.
Also in the fishing port of Olhão there was a collapse, in this case of part of a bridge, with Docapesca to promise to invest in this infrastructure in 2017.
In November, the plans for Faro and from Loulé to welcome the many fans expected in the League Cup Final Four, which takes place at the Algarve Stadium at the end of January.
In the Algarve capital, it was also in the news the evacuation of a hotel due to the presence of Legionella.
At the University of Algarve, the "good tradition" of the Excellence Scholarships for 1st year students was repeated, but in Tavira Secondary, the month was a challenge against the lack of employees.
With Municipal Elections scheduled for 2017, the political war has already started in some municipalities, namely Vila Real de Santo António, where António Murta and Luís Gomes exchanged accusations.
In Monchique, “justice was done”, with the beginning of the works in the Court, which will reopen in January.
December
In the final stretch of the year, new ones arrived, long longed for by the Algarve, but old problems were also in the news. December 2016 will go down in history as the month in which the controversial prospecting and exploration contracts for hydrocarbons in the Algarve were canceled (although not all), namely the one that caused the most dispute, with the company Portfuel of businessman Sousa Cintra, which won concessions for oil exploration on land, granted by the previous Government.
Also revoked was the closure of the Regional Directorate of INEM, which had lost this status years before and, with it, a fully operational Guidance Center for Urgent Patients (CODU). As of January, said the Secretary of State for Health Manuel Delgado on a visit to the region, there will be investment in "people, equipment and vehicles". At the same time, the member of the Government opened the door to the extinction of the CHA, again separating hospitals from Faro and from the Barlavento Algarvio (Portimão and Lagos).
And if there are solutions on the one hand, the problems of the National Health Service in the region continue, as they prove the three days that hospitals in the region were without Orthopedics emergency.
And when everyone was already thinking about New Year's Eve plans, it became known that there will be increases in toll rates, all over the country, and that Via do Infante is one of the highways on which they climb the most.
December was also a month of awards, from the outset to two Algarve companies, EC Travel and Teófilo Fontaínhas Neto, which won the national SME award in the area of Serviceif Food distribution, respectively, but also for José Louro, one of the region's cultural references, which won the Maria Veleda award from the Regional Directorate of Culture (DRC) of the Algarve.
In the education sector, the Sul Informação realized the problems experienced by three classes from EB 2,3 João de Deus, from São Bartolomeu de Messines, without a Portuguese teacher since the beginning of the school year, and followed the disputed elections at the Academic Association of the University of Algarve, who ended with the re-election of Rodrigo Teixeira as president of AAUAlg.
The year ended with the success of new circus show in Monchique, which brought 1300 people to the highest village in the Algarve, for two hours of pure wonder and lots of partying. A good prelude to the coming months of the 365 Algarve programme.
It was the culmination of a very good year for Algarve Tourism, which registered a full house this weekend of the review.
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