The new health building in Loulé, in which the first University Health Center in the Algarve will operate, should be ready by the end of the year, although the scheduled completion date for the work is February 2025.
The news was announced this Thursday, February 1st, during a visit to the space, as part of City Day.
In this building – which began construction in September 2022 and had an investment of around 5 million euros, 65% financed by Loulé City Council and the remaining 35% by the Central Administration – the first University Health Center in Loulé will operate. Algarve, a Community Care Unit, new facilities for the Lauroé Family Health Unit (which currently operates in containers) and also the new headquarters of the Central Algarve Health Center Group (ACES) (which covers the municipalities of Albufeira, Loulé, São Brás de Alportel, Faro and Olhão).
Vítor Aleixo, president of the Loulé municipality, gives “a very positive assessment” of this work.
«It is a public investment for the medical care that is provided to the population within the framework of the National Health Service, so that it can be provided in the best possible conditions, with new equipment and more skills. The existing building is obsolete, does not attract healthcare professionals and now, with this new building, things will change radically. People who need to use these services will be better served and professionals will be happier for working on equipment that responds to the most modern healthcare needs,” he told Sul Informação.
According to the mayor, it should also be noted that the current facilities at the Loulé Health Center «will undergo extensive renovation».
«The remaining building has an ongoing application that is going very well and has PRR financing of up to 800 thousand euros, but the contract for requalification and renovation of the facilities will cost around 1 million and 200 thousand, with the difference being ensured by the Budget Municipal. Therefore, nothing that is obsolete and old-fashioned there today will remain», guarantees the president of Loulé.
In addition to the visit to the construction of this new building of the Health Center of Loulé, City Day included a visit to the construction of the Second Circular and the 64 buildings in Clona, the rehabilitation of the Municipal Neighborhood, the expansion of the Engº Duarte Pacheco School and the expansion and remodeling of the Municipal Heliport: everything taking place within the scheduled deadlines.
Taking up the theme of housing as «one of the biggest problems not only in Loulé, but in Portugal» Vítor Aleixo took the moment to highlight that these 64 homes, currently under construction, are part of the 2400 solutions that the Municipality must find by 2030 to guarantee decent housing.
The Clona Urbanization work, which «is taking place on schedule and should be completed within 15 months», consists of four buildings, with a total of 64 apartments: 23 T1, 28 T2, 12 T3, one T4 and two spaces intended for commercial use.
According to the Mayor of Loulé, the affordable rent regulations for these properties have already been published, but the competitions for candidacy have not yet opened, nor has the date on which this will happen been decided.
Another project visited on this City Day was the expansion of EB 2,3 Eng. Duarte Pacheco, which will now have eight more rooms, a teaching kitchen, changing rooms and a support room.
This is a project that should be completed by the end of the year and has a cost of around 1 million and 500 thousand euros.
Still for this quarter, the expansion and remodeling of the Municipal Heliport is expected to be completed, which, with the most recent works, will be able to receive, at the limit, eight aircraft (more than double the capacity it already had).
The heliport is next to new regional headquarters of INEM (National Institute of Medical Emergency), where the Urgent Patient Guidance Center (CODU) will operate – a building that, according to Vítor Aleixo, should be opened very soon.
On this City Day, the Mayor of Loulé also took the opportunity to highlight the Municipality's commitment to «what is the biggest challenge we are all facing, adapting to climate change».
Vítor Aleixo recalled that Loulé has what was, in the entire country, the first Municipal Climate Action Plan approved in accordance with the law, and there is data that already illustrates what has been done at this level.
«In 2019, we had an amount of unbilled water in the order of 41%. It was 41% of water that entered the system and was not billed. In 2023, only provisional numbers, but which I am sure will be corroborated, show that we have reached 27%. We have done a huge amount of work. The results are beginning to appear and, if we add this reduction in unbilled water to the excellent performance of municipal companies, then we are already below 20%. This positions us, according to the classification standard, as a very good Municipality in managing water resources», highlighted the mayor.
For Vítor Aleixo, «this can only be our path». «We continue to make major investments in the network and have contingency plans for the drought. This is what Loulé is, he faces his problems and has worked with focus and energy” to solve them.
Photos: Mariana Sedge | Sul Informação
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