São Brás de Alportel has a Municipal Budget for 2023 of 18,8 million euros, which includes «the necessary reinforcement to support the community and the local economy, in times of crisis», but which also includes projects in the area of housing, urban renewal and Water and Energy Efficiency.
According to the City Council of São Brás de Alportel, the document's basic principle is to "ensure the sustainability and financial balance of the municipality", while at the same time trying to "respond to major challenges, namely the huge increase in expenses arising from the expansion of the competences of the Municipality, through transfers from the State, namely in the areas of education, social action and health, which come to be added to the aggravation of all expenses with the inflation resulting from the war».
«This is a budget whose priority is to support families and the economy, in a particularly demanding and uncertain context», summarizes Vítor Guerreiro, mayor of São Brás de Alportel.
The municipality will take advantage of «the funding opportunities for Portugal 2030 and the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR)» and strongly invest «in housing, water and energy efficiency, education, culture and sport, maintaining the necessary investments in maintaining equipment and infrastructure”.
Even so, says the Mayor of São Paulo, «we recognize that we need more funds, in order to be able to do more for our population».
The main axis of the budget for 2023 is housing, identified by the Chamber as «the great priority in the municipality’s social policies», framed in the Local Housing Strategy, which, «until 2026, has an investment of 8.826.000 euros, the which adds up to an investment of more than half a million euros, which will allow continuity of support and social responses».
The document contemplates «a new package of measures to support families in a crisis context, the rental support programs, the project to promote inclusion, the reinforcement of support for families through the Social Store and the Social Emergency Fund, the continuity of the programs “Mão Amiga” and “Mão Amiga Inclusivo” and also the launch of the new program to promote equal access to feminine hygiene products for young people”.
In health, São Brás will assume more competences and «is fighting for the creation of more valences and equipment in the county. The municipal budget includes an investment of almost 423 euros to support the Integrated Master's Degree in Medicine at the University of Algarve, the family support measures plan, namely “Vale + Saúde” and “Vale + Natalidade”, as well as works to improve the Health Center and support associations with activities aimed at citizens».
The municipality also has new competences in the area of education, where it promises to make “a solid investment. In this case, the budget has around 1,1 million euros for “works to improve schools, as well as support for the development of curricular and extracurricular activities. School social action, the purchase of school transport, the sharing of school passes, the family support measures plan “Vale + Educação” and awards to the best students and merit scholarships are some of the many actions contemplated in the budget».
Much more “robust” will be the investment in water efficiency, with the Council allocating around 2,5 million euros “in the area of water supply and sanitation and wastewater treatment. The budget includes even more interventions in terms of expanding the sanitation network, conservation of the water supply and sanitation network, as well as the acquisition and repair of equipment for the water supply and the requalification of the supply networks».
The plans of São Brás de Alportel for 2023 do not leave out the environment and animal welfare, an area for which more than 1,2 million euros are earmarked, «which will make it possible to reclassify Jardim Carrera Viegas, as well as to advance in the strategy for improving the system of containers and other collection equipment, acquisition of a waste vehicle. The promotion of animal welfare, namely investment in sterilization campaigns and the adoption of stray animals. Large sums are added in this area in terms of the treatment and recovery of waste and within the scope of the Municipal Water Efficiency Plan, fundamental to guaranteeing environmental quality.
«This year, 2023, is also intended to be a year of major investments in the area of land use planning in São Brás de Alportel. The municipal budget foresees an investment of more than one million euros that will allow the implementation of structuring urban renewal projects, such as the 1st phase of the Requalification of the Urban Center and the start of the João Rosa Beatriz Square project, but also the installation of the Monument to the Fighters, the revision of the Municipal Master Plan (PDM) and other planning plans, in a fundamental work of projecting the future», adds the Câmara de São Brás de Alportel.
For the Civil Protection and Defense of the Forest, the Municipality intends to «invest close to 600 thousand euros in the priority mission of defending the forest against fires and in the reinforcement of the increasingly demanding and fundamental support to guarantee the work of the Volunteer Firefighters, who are to the guarantor of the protection and assistance of the populations».
The municipality's economic agents have a dedicated axis, that of Economic Development and Tourism, with an endowment of close to 1,3 million euros.
This amount will allow, assures the municipality, «to launch new support measures for local economic agents, expand the network of spaces for entrepreneurship incubation, create a campaign to promote the Municipal Market, continue to invest in events of great economic dynamism such as the Feira da Serra, but also the Prata Night and other initiatives».
«The beginning of the implementation of the Arts Workshop, a commitment to promoting employment and the enhancement of professional training, the enhancement of Parque da Fonte Férrea and the rehabilitation of the 4 Olhos block are other lines of action», concluded the Chamber of São Brás de Alportel .
Investment in paving the municipal road network, in the requalification of Estrada 523 and in the conservation and repair of the road network (480 thousand euros), in the energy sector (684 thousand euros) and in culture, namely in the modernization of the São Brás Cineteatro, maintenance, the commitment to studies and research and the enhancement of heritage, support to the Museum of Costume and to the various cultural associations, the acquisition of equipment and documental fund for the Municipal Library and the continuity of the research project and publication of the literary work of José Dias Sancho (300 thousand) are also included in the municipal investment for 2023.
«In the area of sport, recreation and leisure, the Municipality foresees an investment of 531 thousand euros that will allow the stimulation of the Municipal Sports Park, namely with the creation of the new Basketball Field and large investments in terms of repair and improvement of sports infrastructures, such as the Municipal Football Field», describes the municipality.
The budget also foresees «the acquisition of land for the expansion of the Tennis Complex and for the creation of a covered tennis court and includes the priority support to sports associations and collectives in the municipality and the promotion of sporting events, with great potential for dynamization of the local economy".
Comments