The Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Security and Maritime Services (DGRM) participated in the closing days of the “GUAD20 Project – Guadiana, Navigable Natural Heritage”, of the INTERREG VA 2014-2020 Spain-Portugal Program, which took place yesterday at the premises of the Port of Huelva.
The GUAD20 Project – Guadiana, Navigable Natural Heritage” contemplated the establishment of the navigability of the Guadiana River in the Alcoutim-Pomarão section, with the establishment of a 30 meter wide navigable channel, the placement of maritime signaling and the construction as part of the set of interventions several access piers and boat moorings and also the production of nautical charts for the entire international section of the Guadiana River between Vila Real de Santo António and Pomarão.
The event had an initial panel of speakers, consisting of the president of the Port of Huelva, Pilar Miranda, the director general of the Public Agency of Puertos de Andalusia, Rafael Merino López, the director general of DGRM, José Carlos Simão, and by general director of the Hydrographic Institute, Carlos Ventura Soares.
This was followed by a set of technical presentations of the work carried out under the GUAD20 project, in which the navigability and signaling project presented by DGRM and the new Nautical Charts presented by the Hydrographic Institute were highlighted.
Future works to be developed in the next INTERREG program were also addressed, which include the completion of navigability in the last section between Pomarão and Mértola, the construction of more infrastructure for berthing and access for people to Rio, and also the need for a new intervention at the Guadiana bar.
Efforts must also be made to promote this natural and cultural asset, which must be streamlined with safety and control requirements, while preserving the environmental values present throughout the Guadiana valley.
As the general theme of the Conference, the message was that the Guadiana River, the target of interventions already carried out and in the future, will increasingly be a reason for the union between Portugal and Spain and an engine for economic development and job creation in the surrounding municipalities, namely for recreational nautical activities and tourism.
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