“People, when they raise suspicions and say that there are attempts at corruption, they have to denounce them. That's what we want the Judiciary Police to investigate. We fear nothing», assures António Pina, mayor of Olhão.
The mayor from Olhão, elected by the PS, is the main target in a CMTV report, issued this week, during which alleged corruption attempts are reported, as well as suspicions of favoritism, on the part of the Olhão Chamber, of some homeowners. on Armona Island.
The “intolerable suspicions about alleged behavior by alleged employees of the Municipality of Olhão” was what led the municipality, on the recommendation of António Pina, to file a complaint with the Judiciary Police.
"Our goal is for the people who appeared in the play to question corruption issues, to denounce them", he told the Sul Informação the president of the Olhão Chamber.
However, the PSD/Olhão, the main opposition party, announced that it will “fight for the establishment of the truth and the identification of possible authors of the illicit acts reported by housing concessionaires on Ilha da Armona”.
On the other hand, he promises to use “all the necessary means at his disposal to closely monitor the progress of the investigation process, by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, until those responsible are identified, whatever the cost, whatever the cost”.
In the CMTV piece, the demolition of more than a hundred houses is also taken for granted, under Armona's Intervention and Requalification Plan (PIR). However, the mayor claims, the negotiation process is still in progress and there is a tug of war between the municipality and the Ministry of the Environment, namely with regard to demolitions.
It is because, in the view of Polis Ria Formosa, the entity that drew up the plan about five years ago, there are houses that are outside the concession area to the Chamber that will have to come down. The municipality claims that there are no houses in an illegal situation.
“Right now, the negotiation process for the PIR is underway, which has now been suspended because of the elections. Then we'll have to take it back. I will only be able to talk about it later”, he said.
António Pina says, even so, that he will try, «and our proposal will always be that, to include all the buildings in this plan».
But this is a medium-term problem, since, for the mayor from Olhão, the most important thing is to renew for another 30 years the concession that allows the Câmara de Olhão to protect the territory where the housing nucleus of Ilha da Armona is installed.
«What we want is the renegotiation of the concession, more than the PIR, which may not even be feasible, since so many years have passed since it was made», revealed António Pina.
What is certain is that the approval of the PIR, which was promised for 2017, but which has not yet happened, will only be done by the Government that comes out of the next elections.
Basically, this is an issue to be resolved by the future Minister of the Environment, given that the outgoing, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, - who may once again be the owner of the portfolio -, has always been reluctant to accept that there is no renaturalization of part of the now urban area of the island.
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