The first phase of the works at Ponta da Piedade, in Lagos, has already started "because it is urgent to requalify" that area. ex libris of the city, defends Maria Joaquina Matos, Mayor. There will be born a pedestrian and cycling route, to "correct the existing disorder".
Except that, in addition to the many voices from civil society that have already risen against the intervention, the entire opposition (CDU, Left Bloc, PSD, CDS, MPT, PPM and the “Lagos com Futuro” coalition) is against and demands a «stop immediately of the works'.
Ponta da Piedade, with its lacy cliffs, is one of the most visited places in the Algarve, but also one that is most threatened, due to the pressure of hundreds of people who visit it every day, walking everywhere, opening dozens of tracks, trampling on plants, contributing to erosion.
The project that is now advancing is old and was «developed by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), in conjunction with the Algarve's Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR),», explained Joaquina Matos to Sul Informação.
In 2012, the project “was to go forward”, but ended up “staying on hold”. At issue were "financial issues of the central state, the Chamber and a company that went bankrupt", framed the mayor.
Now, the project was resumed "at the initiative of the Ministry of Environment", but there were "adaptations", he said. And what will then be done specifically in this first phase?
“The main objective is to preserve the territory from irregular trampling. Therefore, the area was studied and a pedestrian and cycling route was designed, from the Farol to Canavial beach, which will be built on the ground, without walkways», explained Joaquina Matos.
Now, it is precisely against this option that the opposition manifests itself. And he even accuses the mayor of having "misled the councilors and members of the Municipal Assembly, as he always referred to the construction of passageways", reads a joint statement sent to the newsrooms.
«When the work began, it was immediately understood that it was not a question of walkways, but of widening existing paths and concreting them. We believe that this option is ineffective, as it is not able to mark out or organize the routes of the many thousands of visitors who annually flock to Ponta da Piedade», he adds.
Anyone visiting that coastal area already notices the intervention on the ground. The first phase of the works includes the area that goes from the Farol to Praia do Canavial, where white gravel is being laid for the construction of this trail. In the future, «porous, permeable concrete will be made, which will be painted the color of the ground», explained the mayor. Basically, an intervention similar to the one carried out on the Sagres Promontory, which worked out well.
Along the entire route, there will also be "wooden pins, with about 40 centimeters, to mark and mark it", he added.
It's just that, currently, there is no identified trail, so you can see people walking around there on different trails – and some are dangerous. The entire cliff, guarantees the mayor, was “studied, in terms of geography, geology or water circulation”.
This intervention also foresees the «qualification, definition and hierarchy of paths and routes (which will drastically reduce the indiscriminate trampling that currently occurs and which contributes to the degradation of space), also promoting the gullying of some areas».
But opposition parties and movements, candidates for the 1 October Local Elections, in their joint communiqué, disagreed, stating that, "as these concrete paths will not impede access to the edge of the cliff, the trampling will continue along the existing tracks , just as the resulting erosion will continue'.
In other words, they argue, "it is a project that does not give a complete answer to what is most important to combat: erosion caused by the unruly trampling of thousands of people on a highly sensitive cliff area."
"They say that nothing prevents people from fleeing that circuit afterwards, but when we put crosswalks on the road, nothing prevents people from crossing it without using the crosswalk", answers, in turn, the mayor.
Joaquina Matos adds that the works will not stop here, in Ponta da Piedade. At two of the points on the cliff, with better visibility over the sea and the coast, “two covered wooden viewpoints with benches will be built”. These two areas will be “uplifted from the ground” and “there will be panels with cultural, historical and natural information about the intervention area”.
There will also be "smaller rails connecting these areas, using the same material that is being used now", said the mayor.
These narrower and smaller routes, approaching the cliff, "will only be pedestrian, especially for safety reasons."
The Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR) considered, in a positive opinion on these works, that the «intervention would contribute to the pursuit of the objectives of the National Ecological Reserve, by promoting discipline in the use of space, mitigating risks for people and goods, preserving more sensitive cliff sectors and promoting the aesthetic enhancement of the whole».
The second phase of the work will be “more complex”, as it includes a larger area – from the Farol to the beaches of Dona Ana or Pinhão. This is a project “that has yet to be done” and that will have to equate issues related to the “protection of the cliff, the parking lot and the road”, explained the mayor.
And if there were no attractions to go to Ponta da Piedade, the works should bring another one. It is that the memory of Sophia de Mello Breyner, the poet who wrote about Lagos and who had a holiday home in that city, will be remembered there. In what way is still something to see, since the project is not, for now, conceived.
Joaquina Matos does not hesitate to say: "I really like this project, because it requalifies and protects". The opposition (CDU, Left Block, PSD, CDS, MPT, PPM and the “Lagos com Futuro” coalition) has a different opinion, which wants the end of the works so that an «analysis of the project in progress» can be made and promoted « due public discussion».
This intervention, "to be concluded", will "negatively influence the future project of continuity of the intervention along the Costa d'Oiro cliff", defend the candidates who want dethrone the socialist Joaquina Matos of the mayor of Lagos.
The completion of the first phase of the works is scheduled for the last quarter of this year, at a cost of 193 euros.
Photos: Pedro Lemos | Sul Informação
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