«We are going to start the works this year, at Ponte do Almargem, and then, gradually, over the next period, re-qualify what is missing from the EN125». The announcement was made by the minister of Planning and Infrastructure Pedro Marques, in Olhão, on the sidelines of a session in which Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) presented the result of the emergency intervention carried out on the EN125, between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António .
The member of the Government assured that the works are to be done, "hopefully from the beginning of next year", but no concrete date was left. The only structuring work with a scheduled date, and which had already been announced, is the one that will be carried out at Ponte do Almargem, in Tavira, which will be started «in September». The other works are, according to Pedro Marques, to be done gradually.
"At the Ponte do Almargem, through the periodic inspections we carry out, a significant deterioration was detected in the state of the work of art, which means that there has to be an urgent intervention to restore safety conditions", he revealed, at the session , José Serrano Gordo, vice president of IP.
This work, budgeted at 500 thousand euros, «will be consigned at the beginning of September, so as not to harm traffic conditions» on the EN125. «It is a structural rehabilitation, which will incorporate the approach embankments, so that the depressions that are there no longer exist. All the pillars of the bridge will also be repaired and the pavement replaced”, he added.
Asked if the intervention that will follow on the EN125 will be made by mouthwash, Pedro Marques denied that this is the case. “We carried out very important emergency works. Fifty kilometers were repaired at once, on the EN50, in Sotavento, ten of which were completely paved. It seems difficult to say that they are works by mouthwash. These works were completed in two months, a very short period, and we are going to do more works. We are going to carry out structural rehabilitation and repaving interventions on the EN125», between Olhão and VRSA, he said.
"People know that the EN125 is not the same as it was when we arrived in the Government and the rest of the EN125 will also improve a lot", promised Pedro Marques.
«The works in Barlavento were carried out in an integral way, still in the context of the concession. The concessionaire's issue is known, obviously, for legal reasons and because an appeal is pending at the Court of Auditors on this matter, I will not comment further», said the minister.
Still, Pedro Marques guarantees that, whether the decision is favorable or not, there are solutions. "We have a strategy for the case the appeal is accepted and another for the case that it does not happen".
For now, and in the last month and a half, emergency works have been carried out, which cost 248 euros. 15% of this amount, around 40 thousand euros, was spent between Olhão and Cacela, the section that was “in better condition”. In the most deteriorated part, «between Cacela Velha and Praia Verde», the remaining amount was spent, in what was «an almost continuous intervention», according to José Serrano Gordo.
As for EN124 and EN396, minister Pedro Marques only said that the Government “will continue to look at priorities for intervention in the Algarve, over the next few years. I emphasize that we have done a lot of work in the Algarve and we will continue to do so in the future and the Algarve should trust us for one reason only: we have talked less and done more over the past two and a half years».
Photos: Golden Gonçalo | Sul Informação
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