“If I say it will be sustainable, take my word for it that it will be sustainable. And let's work with people here. It will be something good», he assured the Sul Informação Ville Tallback, the director of Ombria Resort, who today, August 25th, laid the foundation stone for the future five-star hotel and a complex of 65 tourist apartments, to be built on this 153-hectare property, located between Querença and Tôr , in the interior of the municipality of Loulé.
Environmental sustainability and the integration of the tourism enterprise in the surrounding community, serving as an engine of the local economy, were two of the main ideas that were defended this Friday, at the ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the Ombria Resort.
A first stone that was another symbolic act, as it is enough to pass on the road that connects Querença to Tôr to see that the works, on the accesses to the future development and construction of the golf courses, are well advanced. Since 2015, a viaduct has been built over the Ribeira de Algibre, the golf courses have been modeled and land and slope retention work carried out, with concrete structures.
Basically, the laying of the first stone means that the works will begin “in earnest”, that is, the construction of the five-star hotel with 76 rooms – the first of the Viceroy insignia in Europe -, which those responsible for the Points Group, the Finnish fund that will invest 262 million euros in this multifaceted tourist complex, they want to have operation «within two years», and 65 tourist residences – studios and with 1 or 2 bedrooms.
The hotel complex also includes a clubhouse, a conference center, five restaurants, spa kids club, an astronomical observatory, heated swimming pools and various other leisure and fitness. This first phase will motivate an investment of 100 million euros.
Later, in the second and third phases of the project, 12 luxury houses (from 3 to 6 bedrooms) and 85 apartments and villas (1 to 4 bedrooms) will be built for sale.
To achieve all this, Points Group will have to hire a lot of people. In the construction phase, as revealed by Julio Delgado, administrator of the Ombria Resort, "more than 700 jobs will be created" and dozens of companies will be involved.
Later, when the complex is in operation, "250 to 300 new permanent and direct jobs" will be created, with priority for those from the region. The estimated return for the Portuguese State, in taxes, is «150 million euros».
These numbers serve to support the assertion of those responsible for the Ombria Resort and the investment fund that will build it that this is “a new generation of tourist developments, where environmental, social and economic values are a priority”.
«I have been here in the Algarve since the approval of the master plan, in 2008. The first thing we did was to hire a company specialized in the environment, Ambientar, whose president is Miguel Castelão, we reviewed all the environmental issues and made changes to the plan. We want to ensure the sustainability of the aquifer, so we had to deal with the issues of erosion and trees, among others», framed Ville Tallbacka, in statements to Sul Informação, on the sidelines of the ceremony.
“When it comes to our integration into the community, we have public roads that give access to the project, people will not be prevented from coming here. There at the top of that hill we have Querença. I know the people who have lived there for ten years and it's a fantastic place. What we want is to create an interaction. We have ideas, we have the project, we want to do something sustainable and we count on people here to do that. Portugal has exceptional talent in the most diverse aspects», according to the director of Ombria Resort.
In addition to the three hundred direct jobs, the person responsible for the resort da Quinta da Ombria believes that this project will encourage the emergence of new service companies, namely in the area of nature tourism.
“First, we will look for partners at the local level. If we don't find them, we look for them regionally, then nationally and, only as a last resort, outside Portugal. We are already doing that, which is why I highlighted the names of the main companies that work with us, which are all Portuguese», he said.
“We won't be the ones selling nature tours, it will be the companies here. We will also encourage our customers to get to know the local shops and restaurants, because we have to get people out of here. This is just a platform. We have to convince them to go to Querença, Tôr, Salir and Loulé,” added Ville Tallbacka.
Despite this being a day of celebration, there was a place to remember the past and the many years it took this project to move from paper to land. In addition to the controversy surrounding environmental and social issues, raised by environmental associations and civil society, there was a sea of bureaucracy that Ilpo Kokkila, president of the Points Group, made a point of remembering.
“We were very disappointed with the slowness of the bureaucracy we faced during the development of the project. The cooperation with Loulé City Council and the competent authorities has been excellent, but the way in which bureaucracy has caused the delay of this process is unbelievable. This delay seriously hinders progress in the country», accused the Finnish investor.
And the difficulties, he says, still continue. “After more than 20 years of work, we are still waiting for the final approval of the project”, he revealed.
Still, Ilpo Kokkila has not given up, nor does he plan to, no matter how difficult it may be. “It was this landscape, the Portuguese and the Finnish perseverance that kept us here trying, trying, trying”, he illustrated.
The president of the Points Group also guaranteed that the environmental values are to be respected. “We want to build a sustainable and environmentally friendly complex. We never wanted to do something in the old Portuguese style and disrespect the nature that surrounds us. We want to offer good jobs and good neighbors», he guaranteed.
Vítor Aleixo, who dealt with this project at an early stage, during his first stint as president of the Loulé Chamber, and ended up signing the construction permit that allowed the first interventions to begin, in 2015, said he had “honor and joy” to see the project walk.
As for bureaucracy, the mayor of Loulé recalled that this “is a pioneer project”, which he proposed, “for the first time, to carry out an intervention of this dimension in a natural space in a pure state”.
The authorization for the advancement of this work happens, he believes, because this is «an exemplary project, which follows all the standards of strict respect for the environment in which it operates». This does not mean that Vítor Aleixo is giving carte blanche to the promoters of Ombria Resort.
"The Chamber will not fail to follow very carefully the way in which this project will be developed and the way in which it relates to its surroundings", warned the Mayor of Loulé.
Vítor Aleixo also left a message for other potential investors within the municipality. "We are available to host other projects for the interior of Loulé, as long as they follow the example of this one and submit to all necessary procedures and required by law," he declared.
A position that clashes with the request made yesterday by the Almargem Association, which, for decades, has been defending that this project is a threat to the interior of the municipality and to the natural values of the barrocal, which appealed to Vítor Aleixo and members of the Government attending the ceremony, Secretary of State for Tourism Ana Mendes Godinho and her Environment counterpart Carlos Martins, for them to declare “their definitive opposition to the Vale do Freixo project, taking into account the urgent need to preserve the natural values of the Rede Natura 2000 site in Barrocal and the protected area of Rocha da Pena».
Ana Mendes Godinho did not call for future projects, but said she believed "a lot" in the Quinta da Ombria project, considering that "it could be a fundamental anchor for the territorial cohesion that the interior of the Algarve so badly needs".
At Quinta da Ombria, the days will continue to be marked by the movement of machines and men, so that everything is ready in 2019 and the hotel complex can open at the end of that year.
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues|Sul Informação and Quinta da Ombria
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