The Portimão City Council has postponed important works on the county's roads until after the summer, so that «our fellow citizens, namely businessmen, are not harmed».
The announcement was made yesterday afternoon by the mayor's office, at a press meeting, which began with the signing of the consignment notice, followed by the suspension notice, of the contract for the 1st phase of paving the V6 avenue, one of the main roads of the city.
The requalification and paving of the old EN125, between Cruz da Parteira and Penina, as well as other repaving, were also postponed.
If these works were to move forward now, stressed President Isilda Gomes, "there would be endless traffic queues." It is that, he stressed, "we do not want the works to make it difficult for the economy to recover", therefore, "those that we can postpone, we will postpone until after the summer".
The set of works now postponed represents an investment of 921 thousand euros.
“Lately, we have been bombarded with the classification of voters because we are doing works. If we were, we wouldn't postpone two such important works now,” added the socialist mayor.
However, there are other ongoing interventions throughout the county that will continue, especially because they do not cause traffic constraints, which usually increase in the summer period.
They are the Old auction of Portimão: building of the Salva Vidas de Alvor, the requalification of the José Buísel Basic School, the replacement of asbestos roofs in the D. João II and Júdice Fialho elementary schools and in the Manuel Teixeira Gomes Secondary School, the creation of the Mercado Urbano Park (with the demolition of the old structure and the tents, with resettlement), the demolition of the houses between Largo do Dique and Jardim 1º de Dezembro, to create a new street (approved already in the Municipal Assembly), the Sesmarias and Esteveira roads, the Mortuary House of Alvor, the consolidation of the ossuaries of the old cemetery, the complete redevelopment of Rua António Feu, in Praia da Rocha, and the completion of the Rotunda Paul Harris.
As for Rua António Feu, in Rocha, Isilda Gomes stressed that “it is no longer a street, it is a succession of holes, so we cannot postpone it any longer”. This is a joint work with EMARP, which will take the opportunity to reformulate infrastructures, so it will take a little longer.
As for the Rotunda Paul Harris, located at one of the main entrances to the city, the works should «be completed by the end of July or beginning of August». Isilda Gomes guaranteed that this work "is going at a good pace", being causing "the least possible problems".
For now, work is progressing in the lateral areas, with alternative accesses having been created, while traffic flows normally in the central area, entering or leaving the city.
When it is necessary to pave the central area, "there will be no interruption of traffic, except for a few hours, but during the night".
The 13 works that are in progress throughout the county represent an investment of 7,1 million euros.
But there are other interventions that could be happening…if the contests hadn't been deserted. These are the 2nd phase of the Mercado Urbano Park, the 2nd and 3rd phases of the Youth Park, the Palácio Abreu, in Alvor, the Vendas Basic School and Kindergarten, the Montes de Alvor EB and the Kindergarten of Fojo, totaling around 3,3 million euros.
And why are the competitions deserted, without construction companies to apply? Isilda Gomes says that the matter was debated recently at the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities, as it is a problem that is repeated throughout the country. The issue, stresses the mayor of Portimo, is that "there are few companies with the capacity and dynamics to take over the works".
Despite these setbacks, the Portimão Council has a set of eleven works whose competitions are ongoing or will be launched "until the end of the summer". In addition to the repetition of some of those that were left without companies interested in building them, there is also the Praia da Rocha walkway (requalification, lighting), the Animal Collection Center, the requalification of Lotta de Alvor and the arrangement of the parish church of Portimão.
«On the boardwalk of Praia da Rocha, we would never intervene during the summer», while the redevelopment of the parish churchyard is already «at the Court of Auditors, waiting for a visa». In any case, he assured, "we are not going to start the work in a prime area of the city in midsummer."
In this set of works with competitions in progress or to be launched soon, the Portimão Town Council estimates to invest close to 3,9 million euros, of which almost half (1,8 million) relate to the arrangements in the Igreja Matriz square.
But there are still important interventions, such as the EM531, between Alvor and Penina, which are not included in this list. Filipe Vital, vice president of the municipality, announced that the project is being carried out, adding that, in addition to requalification and paving, there are "land to be expropriated", so that the future road has the necessary conditions for the flow of traffic it receives. "If it were to stay the same, it wouldn't be worth spending money," said Isilda Gomes.
As for the postponement of the works, the mayor admitted: «any mayor would like to see the V6 reclassified, as well as the old EN125. But suspending is also contributing so that the economy does not suffer from the inconvenience caused by the progress of the works. I prefer to lose some votes, because we have delayed these works, than subjecting citizens to endless waiting lines, whether people from Portimo or our visitors».
"We cannot be accused of electoralism, when we have more work to do after the summer and even after the [municipal] elections," he defended.
Among works already in progress, suspended for progress after the summer, and projected with ongoing or soon to be tenders, the Portimão Town Council has foreseen a global investment of 15,2 million euros.
“For a municipality that went through the difficulties that ours went through, it is an amount that commands respect”, underlined Isilda Gomes.
«Projects are not lacking. For the year, there will be twice as many works on the ground», assured the mayor.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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