The new premises of the Territorial Command of the GNR in the district of Faro will even be built in Loulé. For the work to move forward, the Municipality of Loulé, the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Republican Guard (GNR) renewed this Tuesday, November 15, the collaboration protocol.
For Vítor Aleixo, president of the Loulé municipality, this renovation «underlines the commitment to continue to work seriously and committedly on behalf of the population».
The decision to install the Territorial Command of the GNR in Faro in Loule was taken in 2018, except that, according to Vítor Aleixo, «things became very complicated with the pandemic and did not move at the desired speed, but now there is a renewed desire to meet the deadlines».
Ao Sul Informação, the mayor explained that the next step is to carry out the project and only then will it be possible to define deadlines for the beginning of the work and estimate the necessary investment.
The future Territorial Command will operate in the “citadel” of Civil Protection and Security in Loulé, next to the A22 junction, where the Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command is already located, the Municipal Fire Department, the heliport and, soon, the services of the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM) and the Guidance Center for Urgent Patients (CODU).
«With the protocol that was renewed today, we take a significant step towards the objectives of improving the infrastructure and conditions for the dignified exercise of the operational activity of the security forces», stressed omenter of Internal Administration José Luís Carneiro.
At the signing ceremony of the protocol, the government official also highlighted that, in recent years, a large investment has been made in the rehabilitation of the GNR barracks in the Algarve. This is the case of the Lagos barracks, the construction from scratch of the Almancil Post, inaugurated in 2020, and the rehabilitation of the Quarteira Post.
The execution projects for the construction of the new post in Olhos de Água, in Albufeira, the project for the construction of the new barracks in Aljezur and the construction of the new post in Vila Real de Santo António, in Monte Gordo.
«It is these investments that contribute to consolidating an image that took a long time to build: that we continue to be, in the country and also in the Algarve, one of the most peaceful places in the world», said Minister José Luís Carneiro.
During the ceremony, Vítor Aleixo also stressed that, in recent years, Loulé has contributed «actively» to the maintenance of security levels in the municipality and region, since «the security, protection and well-being of citizens is a rights and fundamental pillars of democracy".
The decision to move the Territorial Command of the GNR from the district capital to Loulé was taken due to the current “deficient installation conditions”, added the Loulé mayor.
In 2018, Rogério Bacalhau, president of the Chamber of Faro, asked whether the transfer of the Territorial Command to Loulé would represent a loss of importance of Faro in the panorama of the Algarve, devalued the issue.
«I don't think the importance of Faro Go there. It is important to have state services here, but if the importance of Faro if you measure it like that, then we are bad», considered Rogério Bacalhau at the time.
The Territorial Command of the GNR currently operates in Largo de São Sebastião, in the Algarve capital, in a secular building.
Photos: Mariana Sedge | Sul Informação
Comments