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Vila Real de Santo António - €50 million plan for sewage and water services

sewagepipeThe Government said today that it was making "every effort" to prevent having to pay the €4.5 million EU fine applied for because of a lack of sewage treatment facilities in Vila Real de Santo António and up north in Matosinhos.

"Regarding the action sent by the European Commission to the European Court of Justice, all efforts are being made to prevent Portugal being convicted and required to pay fines," read a missive from the office of the Secretary of State for the Environment.

Five years after the first court decision on the issue, the European Commission announced that it had requested a fine of €4,458,828 be paid by the Portuguese state (aka the taxpayer) plus a daily fine of €20,196 from the date of sentence.

The office of Secretary of State Paulo Lemos explained that the government "has to coordinate itself with the municipalities in order to find solutions to the problems in question."

Furthermore, "contacts and meetings with the European Commission have been developed, with the direct involvement of the Secretary of State for the Environment, so as to give all the information about the actions that are being taken."

In Vila Real de Santo António, the Government estimated that the necessary work on the collection system and the treatment plant will be completed the first quarter of 2015 when all urban wastewater will be able to be routed to a plant that is capable of treating the sewage.

Vila Real de Santo António council claims that €30 million is being invested in work to equip the entire council area with sanitation (€18 million) and water supply (€12 million) which is one of the reasons the council is in such debt and has an ongoing financial adjustment plan.

In reality the council has had since 2009 to do this work and it is unacceptable on many levels, including tourism and public health, that sewage is not being treated and many rural areas still have no water supply.

The Vila Real de Santo António Social Democrats say that the penalty will be down to the successive delays in the work of connecting the Vila Real sanitation networks to the Wastewater Treatment Plant, and that all of this is down to the previous mayor.

The Social Democrats say that “these delays and fines are proof of the lack of accountability of the socialist management of Vila Real de Santo António that over 20 years never bothered really to solve the problem of sewage in Vila Real de Santo António nor did it take advantage of the many community funds it had to hand in the early 90s.”

“When the Social Democrats, led by Luís Gomes, took office in 2005, we found a city where almost everything needed to be done. Unlike during the years of socialist management, we were not idle and are carrying out the largest work plan ever with regard to sanitation to ensure full coverage of the county for sewerage” said Pedro Pires, the chairman of the social democrats in Vila Real de Santo António.

In fact, Pires claims the investment is “more like €50 million” and claims the current council executive is "taking a step forward in the quality of life in our city and putting an end to bad smells and sewers that for years have emptied into the Guadiana River without treatment."

"At a time when the EU funds are scarce, we have learned to use the funds that still are available under the Operational Programme for Territorial Development (POVT) so as to do the work. For the first time we are piping water to and laying sewers in many locations that have never had these services', claimed Pires.

 

See also:

http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/3712-vila-real-santo-antonio-sewage-treatment-risks-public-health

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Comments  

0 #5 Dilys. 2014-10-20 12:00
What has faled here is presumably the system of bungs and bribes needed to have this sewerage system built.

Landowners wanting exorbitant compensation .... politicians wanting extraordinary back-handers. Endless fraud and mismanagement amongst administrators ... and the EU case handlers querying the escalating predicted costs.

Other areas have managed it. Like the Alentejo's Alqueva Dam EDIA - which being a higher status project i.e. clean water; so sufficiently greasing everyone concerned.

It just emphasises yet again what a poor deal it has been ... to the EU's loss in letting Portugal in to the EU club.

Another issue - Lying some distance in the future is getting rid of the asbestos in Portuguese public buildings. Horrendously expensive and a specialist job even in a developed EU country - here needing 'extra EU supplementary payments'.

But then we will hear constantly of the asbestos being inadequately dumped in ordinary landfill or someone's ditch. Yet more failure .... !
0 #4 martyn p 2014-10-19 17:53
:lol: make all those Sardines taste nice???
+1 #3 Ed 2014-10-17 23:26
and for the Faro/Olhao sewage situation, read:
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/1204-new-sewage-plant-for-ria-formosa-area-but-not-until-late-2017
Ed
+1 #2 Ed 2014-10-17 23:25
Quoting Mutley:
Coming into Portimão from the north, sewage smells creep up your nose for as long as I can remember. If they do have a working sewage system they manage to hide it very well.


For the Portimao situation, read
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/1230-new-sewage-plant-for-portimao-still-may-not-cope
Ed.
0 #1 Mutley 2014-10-17 21:27
Coming into Portimão from the north, sewage smells creep up your nose for as long as I can remember. If they do have a working sewage system they manage to hide it very well.

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