The Council of Vila Real de Santo António advised users of the municipality's charged parking spaces to pay the respective tariffs, while the court decides whether the end of the contract between the municipality and the concessionaire, unilaterally decreed by the City Council, is valid or not. .
At this time, and after the City Council resolved in March the Contract for the Management and Exploitation of Scattered Tariffed Car Parks in the Urban Center of Vila Real de Santo António and Monte Gordo and in the car parks of Monte Gordo, the Administrative and Tax Court of Loulé is evaluating the precautionary measure filed by the concessionaire, the company ESSE – Parking à Surface e Underground.
In this way, and «until a decision is registered by the court, the concessionaire will continue to charge parking on the streets of Vila Real de Santo António and Monte Gordo (bathroom area where parking is only charged in the summer months), as well as in the car parks of Monte Gordo, with users having to pay the tariffs, under penalty of non-compliance, until the court takes a decision», warns the municipality.
For Álvaro Araújo, mayor of VRSA, «the end of the tariffed parking concession that has been unrestrainedly charged in the parishes of Vila Real de Santo António and Monte Gordo, is the only fair and viable solution to defend the interests of the municipality and all citizens».
The municipality promises to continue «to fight for the end of the concession of charged parking in the current form, understanding that this model has caused constraints to the economic and tourist activity of the county and harmed the municipality in financial terms».
The Chamber recalls that, over the last few months, it has «developed a series of steps to terminate the concession contract for paid parking in the municipality of Vila Real de Santo António».
«Such a decision is justified by the repeated lack of response by the concessionaire to successive requests from the City Council, as well as by the serious breach of contractual obligations, a fact that has prevented the municipality from exercising the power of inspection and validation of the amounts effectively collected and, consequently, verification of compliance with the contract», he adds.
For this reason, «the Contract for the Management and Exploitation of Dispersed Charged Car Parks in the Urban Center of Vila Real de Santo António and Monte Gordo and in the car parks of Monte Gordo was resolved by virtue of the deliberation of the Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, adopted in the session of March 20, 2023, following the Deliberation of the Municipal Assembly of Vila Real de Santo António, adopted in the session of March 11, 2023» .
However, this decision by the VRSA City Council was challenged by the concessionaire, which filed an injunction which is pending before the Administrative and Tax Court of Loulé.
«At this moment, the Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, as defendant, sent to the file, on April 28, 2023, the reasoned resolution, adopted in an extraordinary meeting of the Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, held on the on April 27, 2023, and the measure is currently in the Discussion and Judgment Hearing phase», he concludes.
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