The transformation of the former C+S school to house the new Town Hall and the redevelopment of the Market are the major municipal projects underway in the municipality of Aljezur.
In an interview with Sul Informação, the mayor of this Costa Vicentina municipality revealed that the work will cost 1,8 million, and the specifications are being prepared.
The old school, which has been unused since the new one opened, is “a large space, which will allow us to have the archives in good condition and give space to our employees. In the current Chamber, there are people here very tight», said President José Gonçalves.
The work itself, to adapt the building to its future functions, hopes the mayor, should begin "next year".
One of the main reasons for the need for this investment in the new building to install the Municipality of Aljezur has to do with the lack of space in the current building, built about 25 years ago in the middle of the floodplain, in the midst of controversy, precisely because of this location on fertile agricultural soils, for more subject to periodic flooding.
With the move to the former C+S school building, which is also about a quarter of a century old, the mayor intends to give “other conditions to our staff, not least because we have opened 35 places, from senior technicians to operational staff”.
“In these years when we couldn't hire, we lost a lot of people. And in the future, in three, four years, there are many people leaving for reform. But, nowadays, the demands and the dynamics are different, we need to recover some of our capacity, also because we have very fragile sectors», explained José Gonçalves, in his interview to Sul Informação.
As Aljezur is an almost peripheral municipality, «it is not easy to hire services to come to us, for example in terms of hygiene and health, and this is a great challenge. So, instead of contracting outside services, we have to provide these services with our human resources, not least because we have a very stable financial capacity».
And what is the future of the current Town Hall? At one time it was thought of transforming them into a cultural center, but the mayor does not seem very convinced with this idea. "Let's see if we have that capability," he stressed. The building “is very compartmentalized and has some structural problems, due to the humidity, given its location”.
The other major project is the requalification of the Municipal Market, which is expected to cost 800 thousand euros and whose project will be awarded.
In this case, according to the mayor of Aljezur, the intervention involves «replacing the roof, improving the fish and fruit area, giving it a renewed look and better suited to today's requirements». «It is not a deep, profound work, as we would like, but it is possible», he stressed.
The municipality also intends to establish a greater connection between the municipal, daily market, located in the lower area of Aljezur, by the river, and the farmer's market, which takes place on Saturdays, in the EMA area (where the Potato Fair takes place Sweet), at the New Church.
This farmer's market «has a great dynamic, so we want to upgrade it, so that it becomes the Farmer's Fair, with more activities, with another series of stalls», explained President José Gonçalves.
Currently, the farmer's market has “60 tables, with several things happening, from the direct sale of the products of Aljezurenses farmers, to the sale of handicrafts, to the producers of cakes, sweets, honey, among other things”. But there is also «a very interesting thing, the sellers are not only Portuguese, but also foreigners who live in the county. It is a moment of multicultural meeting», which has everything to do with the current panorama of Aljezur, concluded the mayor.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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