Maria da Graça Carvalho, minsists do Environment and Energy, criticized this Tuesday, August 6th, the previous Government for not having provided all the necessary financing for the construction of the Algarve desalination plant, with around 50 million euros missing.
«Information has now emerged that more funding is needed after all. This is a very Portuguese saga, but one that I don't like, and I am very sorry that, whoever authorized the desalination plant to have greater capacity, did not provide, in the PRR, the necessary financing to cover all that capacity", he said to journalists, on the sidelines of the visit to Praia do Garrão, in Loulé, where new investments for the protection of the Coast.
At stake are more than 50 million that are missing (and were not foreseen) to 100% finance this investment that aims to increase the resilience of the public water supply in the Algarve.
«We have around 56 million in the PRR, [the previous Government] authorized a greater capacity, which will require around 100 million in investment, now here we are to solve the problem. Let's resolve it, let's see", added the minister, recalling that the competition is open and that there are, at the moment, two competitors.
Maria da Graça Carvalho states, however, that financing will depend on the speed at which the work progresses.
«If we can move quickly with the desalination plant, I am convinced that there will be no shortage of funding. It's more complicated to be late, because we are at a time when there is funding and there are many projects. Unfortunately, there are some projects that do not have the necessary maturity, so those that do will be able to obtain financing,” she explained.
Maria da Graça Carvalho was referring to the statements made by her Government colleague, the Minister of Cohesion, who has already said, recalled, that «some projects that are more delayed will come out, go to the State Budget, and those that go better will have more funding ». «With the Minister of Cohesion, we will analyze the situation», she assured.
The minister's statements come on the day that the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL) asked the Government for solutions so that the people of the Algarve do not have to pay the missing funds for the construction of the desalination plant, in future water bills.
António Pina, president of AMAL, confessed this Tuesday, in Faro, that the concern of the 16 Municipal Councils of the Algarve is that the people of the Algarve end up paying the difference between the PRR money and the real cost of the work, «as already happened with the Odelouca dam», the only dam that was paid for based on a system «in which each one of us, who lives here [in the Algarve], ended up paying more expensive water, because they had to pay for this work».
«And why does the Government have to rethink this? Because it is fair to the people of the Algarve, we cannot always be those who contribute positively to the State Budget, but then the State's investments, in the Algarve, are far below what is our contribution to the GDP», he defended also the socialist mayor António Pina.
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