The public consultation on the Environmental Compliance Report of the execution project for the Olhão EN125 Variant, which gives the green light to the progress of the work, is running until the 31st of August, on the Participa.pt website.
The report that is in public consultation aimed to verify "the environmental compliance of the Execution Project of the "EN125 - Variante de Olhão", with the criteria established in the conditionally favorable DIA, issued on September 3, 2019".
This is the remaining procedure for Infraestruturas de Portugal to launch the tender for the construction of the new road, which aims to remove traffic from the interior of the city of Olhão.
According to the Non-Technical Summary of RECAPE, a process that was conducted by the Portuguese Environment Agency, «the options for the execution project, supported by the studies carried out at this stage, the proposed impact minimization measures, along with the implementation of plans and projects specific, support the compliance of the Execution Project with the conditions established in the DIA».
In other words, the Portuguese Environment Agency will be preparing to give the green light to the advancement of the Olhão Bypass, one of the works that will be fully financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, in the Algarve.
This is a work with an ancient and troubled history.
Initially, the road was to have been built as part of the requalification of the EN125, but in 2012 it was dropped by the Government of Pedro Passos Coelho, after the renegotiation of the Rotas do Algarve Litoral concession. It was placed on the table again during the first term of the Socialist Government of António Costa.
In early 2017, Pedro Marques, the then minister of Planning and Infrastructure, came to Olhão to announce the launch of the competition for the preliminary study of this work, something that happened a few months later.
The progress of the process led António Pina to go public highlight the importance of the work «for the development of Olhão as a city and municipality» and for «that this territory has an effective alternative road to the EN 125, which crosses the city, with the consequent constraints on car and pedestrian traffic».
At this time, the end of 2018 was still pointed out as the date for the start of the works, although it was highlighted that there were still many procedures to be done.
Reality gave reason to these warnings of caution, since, about a year later, in July 2018, the preliminary study was not yet completed. Still, Pedro Marques assured that the work was not forgotten.
In May 2019, the Environmental Impact Study for the project, which has since been prepared and delivered by IP to the Environmental authorities, went to public consultation and ended up receiving a conditional favorable declaration.
Meanwhile, with the arrival of money from the so-called “European Bazooka”, the Bypass to the EN125 from Olhão was one of the few works of road infrastructure included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, having advanced to the preparation of the execution project.
In the report now in public consultation, it is highlighted that «in the Execution Project phase there are no significant changes, compared to the proposal presented in the Preliminary Study phase».
Even so, from one document to the next, some adjustments were made at the topographical level and the profiles of the future road, as well as “in the drainage organs, depending on the hydrological and hydraulic studies carried out”.
«A brief update was carried out on some of the environmental aspects of the Variante project implementation area, through the updating of documentary research and field surveys, with the aim of supporting the issues raised at DIA», it reads, still , in the conclusions of the Non-Technical Summary.
Moreover, «since the base project phase, no decisive changes have occurred in the territory with implications for the project under study, both in terms of territorial management instruments, as well as easements and restrictions of public utility or other constraints».
The base project that is referred to is the one that was approved and subject to an Environmental Impact Study in 2012 and on which the previous study was based for the most recent layout proposal.
Also in order to respond to the DIA, «various studies were carried out, focused on the most relevant areas depending on the characteristics of the project and the territory traversed», among which stand out the Geological and Geotechnical Study, the Drainage Project, the Acoustic Study and Sound Protection and the Landscape Integration Project.
«With regard to the minimization measures for this phase of the Execution Project set by DIA, from the analysis carried out, it is considered that, generally speaking, their compliance is guaranteed, having been, within the technical possibilities, adjustments to the project that allowed the optimization of the same», reveals the APA, in the document.
RECAPE also suggests "a set of additional measures", applicable to the construction phase, which "must be respected by the contractor and thus minimize the environmental impacts foreseen for the construction phase".
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