A Quarteira Logistic Support Base (BAL), which will be one of the largest in the country, will be ready in time for the summer of 2018. Jorge Gomes, Secretary of State for Internal Administration, visited this Thursday the works of this infrastructure with capacity to receive 120 Civil Protection and GIPS workers of the GNR.
This work, which started last October, is the result of a protocol between the Ministry of Internal Administration and the Municipality of Loulé.
The infrastructure will serve as the basis for all the equipment necessary for the Civil Protection to act, namely in disaster situations. The Municipality of Loulé explains that "if necessary" there may be "deployment of operatives because it has all the conditions for accommodation, food, administrative spaces (management and communications), storage of equipment, supply (outdoor) and parking of vehicles" .
Also in this place will be installed, on a permanent basis, 30 GIPS operators from GNR. As the Loulé local authority explains, "in addition to protection and relief, these men and women also have a police and criminal investigation function." Therefore, Jorge Gomes, during the visit, “stressed the fact that this equipment is also extremely important for the “security of citizens”».
The Loulé Council adds that, "in addition to crisis situations, if the National Command so deems it, the operational may pre-position themselves in this BAL, as in the case of the period before the fire season, for example."
According to the mayor, Vítor Aleixo, «the centrality and good accessibility of the municipality, namely the proximity of Via do Infante», were decisive in choosing the location of the BAL that will serve the Algarve and the south of the country.
Referring to the features of the equipment, the mayor underlined, during the visit, the added value for Quarteira as it will "increase the feeling of security of the residents, but also of the many tourists who will circulate in this parish".
The work has an estimated cost of 1,3 million euros, financed by the Ministry (through community funds) and the municipality.
Loulé City Council recalls that this project was resumed six years after construction collapsed and the resumption of work was slow.
«It was not easy to select the use that we would give the building. It was a very difficult process from an administrative point of view, it took a lot of time, and it led to a delay of about a year in relation to the initial intentions. But the most important thing now will be the rehabilitation of a building that was in ruins, giving it a noble use», explained Vítor Aleixo.
See here the photos of the visit:
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