The first phase of the rehabilitation works at the Manuel do Nascimento Primary School, in Monchique, worth almost 6 million euros, will begin «as soon as we have the approval of the Court of Auditors», he told the Sul Informação the vice-president of the Municipal Council of this mountainous municipality in the Algarve.
Humberto Sério said that the school had a project, made by the former municipal executive, which estimated costs in the order of 4 million euros. However, in the meantime, “the project had to be revised and construction prices rose a lot, mainly because of the increase in the cost of materials, caused by the war in Ukraine”.
For this reason, the current Monchiquense executive ended up «agreeing with CCDR Algarve on an alteration to the project», dividing it in two.
The works that have already been awarded and which are now awaiting the approval of the Court of Auditors concern the requalification of the three pavilions where classes take place. The award value, according to the BASE portal, is 5.996.327 euros.
The negotiation with CCDR Algarve, within the scope of the PDR Algarve2020, according to the vice-president, also served to increase the contribution from two to three million euros.
Even so, the Chamber of Monchique will have to get the remaining three million, «from the EIB», the European Investment Bank. This use of a loan, «fundamental for the work to move forward, in a Municipality with little resources like ours», was, yesterday, unanimously approved in a Chamber meeting.
Then there is the second phase of requalification of the Manuel do Nascimento Primary School, budgeted at 7 million euros and which, according to Humberto Sério, includes a new Sports Pavilion, an auditorium and benches.
The hope of the Monchique socialist executive is that the promise made by Ana Abrunhosa, Minister of Territorial Cohesion, during her visit at the opening of the recent initiative «Vamos à Vila» will come true. Is that promise was this? That the central government could support the entire requalification of the school, in an amount of 13 million euros, with funds that could come from Portugal 2030.
«While we are not sure that this support will actually go ahead, the only certainty we have is the support of 3 million euros, within the scope of Algarve2020. But we are not going to go ahead with the loan from the EIB yet, to secure the 3 million that we have, without being sure of what could come" through the promise by Minister Ana Abrunhosa.
Financing aside, how will the works go when they start? Will it be possible to keep classes at the School during the work? Sul Informação.
«The works in the pavilions will be phased and one of them, at this stage, will have a minimal intervention. Therefore, it will always be possible to keep at least two of the pavilions working, with classes taking place there, we have already spoken with the school board about this».
Even so, to avoid last-minute squeezes, «we have also launched a procedure to have support containers», added the vice-president of the Monchique municipality.
Manuel do Nascimento Primary School offers classes from the 5th to the 9th grade.
According to Humberto Sério, «in recent years, the number of students here in the municipality has remained stable. There was even a slight increase in the Marmelete school, mainly because of the young foreigners who are living in that area».
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