Olhão’s local parishes now know which projects have been successful in the council’s first Participatory Budget which will fund the winning suggestions for local improvements.
The council says the projects, one per parish, will be completed during 2017.
In Fuzeta, the winning proposal was the repair of the fishing area, Moncarapacho will get a new leisure park and parking next to the João Eusébio school; Olhão will see car traffic banned from the Ria Formosa side of the twin markets; Pechão will get a kids’ playground near the riverside area; Quelfes will have its Avenida Calouste Gulbenkian tarted up and repaired and its bicycle path completed.
The Olhão market traffic ban is of concern to those suppliers who unload produce, with predictions of traffic chaos in the Avenida 5 Outubro as vans stop in this main street to service the markets.
Olhão council said there had been 15 proposals from the population. These had been voted on in person and by SMS. There were three projects from each parish with a guarantee that Fuzeta and Moncarapacho would get at least one project each.
António Pina, Olhão’s mayor, commented, "The people of Olhão were asked to decide on the allocation of part of the Municipal Budget (€400,000) and they responded by participating by presenting proposals and voting. This exceeded our expectations, bearing in mind that this is the first year we have implemented this inclusive and democratic scheme.”
According to the municipality, "about 5% of the population of the county responded and participated actively in the selection of the projects that will now be completed in 2017."
"At the beginning of 2017, all the winning proposals will be included in the Municipal Budget and the expectation is that all the works will completed during the year," concluded the council.
