Maria da Graça Carvalho, Minister of the Environment, stated this Tuesday, August 6, that she hopes that the artificial nourishment of the beaches on the Quarteira-Garrão coastal section will be finished by the end of next year.
«I don't know if it will be during the summer season, because it depends on how long the public tender takes and then we still have eight months of work. If not, either it is done during, or it is interrupted and finished by the end of the year", said Maria da Graça Carvalho, yesterday, during her visit to the Algarve, where she announced an investment of 16,7 million euros for the protection of the region's coastline, with interventions on the coastal strip in the municipalities of Loulé and Portimão, covering a total length of around eight kilometers.
The operation planned for the section from Quarteira to Garrão, with a total approved investment of 14,3 million euros, consists of artificially nourishing this section, covering a length of 6,6 kilometers, combining the replacement of sand with the protection of the cliffs.
«This is the area of the Algarve that suffers the most erosion. We had this year a big problem, in the month of March, and, every 10 years, an intervention of this kind is needed. It is now time to carry out this intervention again, because, if we do not do it, the beaches will be reduced and we will not preserve our coastline, which is a jewel and a precious heritage that we have in Portugal», reinforced the minister.
The intervention in the coastal section between Praia do Vau and the Three Castles, covering 1,5 kilometers, with a predicted value of 2,4 million euros, intends to take advantage of the excess sand accumulated over the last few decades in Praia da Rocha, to compensate for the erosion seen on neighboring beaches.
In the municipality of Loulé, the process will, according to the governor, be more complex, given that, due to the value of the work, an international competition is necessary. The same does not happen in Portimão.
Maria da Graça Carvalho did not, however, give any date for the launch of the competition, nor for the expected start of the works, but the Sul Informação learned from the Portuguese Environment Agency that the competitions are expected to be launched by the end of this year.
Questioned by journalists about whether this is the price to pay for continuing to have construction on top from the cliffs, Maria da Graça Carvalho says that, as far as the Government is concerned, “constructions are not authorized in protected areas”.
«One of our concerns is to see exactly what illegal constructions are and just now we had an order to destroy an illegal construction, which was next to a river, but it is the same principle. The coastline is to be preserved and it is not to be built on top of the cliffs, it is not allowed,” he continued.
In Quarteira, more specifically on Forte Novo beach, the work announced today arrives after the destruction has already occurred.
Like the Sul Informação had already revealed in this report, the storm that, on the Easter weekend, last March, made the sand disappeared and caused the partial destruction of the walkways at Praia do Forte Novo, did not prevent people from being able to go to the beach this summer, albeit with restrictions.
The sand is smaller than in previous years – which meant that the concession that operates on that beach also had to be reduced, as well as the umbrella area – and the accesses are different.
On the 12th of July, Carlos Carmo, councilor of the Loulé City Council, even explained to our newspaper that «there was, on the part of the Loulé City Council and the Quarteira Parish Council, an investment to, not only remove the impact of the storm and that part of the walkway that was left unsupported, as if to position it further back and provide access to the beach, so that all safety conditions were ensured».
Regarding the intervention of artificial feeding of the Quarteira-Garrão section, Carlos Carmo said that this announcement is nothing new and that it is an «investment that was already planned and on which the Loulé City Council itself had influence».
«It was not this bad weather that defined this feedback. It was already planned and, on the part of the Chamber, everything was conceded at the time. Now, it is in the hands of the APA and the current Government to move things forward», he also stated on July 12th.
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