Jorge Moreira da Silva, Portugal's environment minister, said today that his department has been authorised to spend €300 million on coastal defences in the next two years.
A the stable door swings in the breeze, the horse having bolted days ago, the clean up bill after the storm remains unaddressed but a 'coastal defence review' has been started to address the issue of the country's sea defences.
The claim that 313 projects costing €300 million have miraculously been approved, as the country raises more in tax from pensioners to pay its bills, may just be a case of political expediency at the minister's press day on the coast near Aveiro. He was keen to impress how serious he is about things like ‘risk’ and ‘intervention’ and was under pressure to announce something positive after years of under investment.
“Often studies are a good pretext for not acting, but in this case we are doing both things as we approve works and look at options in the light of a new risk assessments," said the deeply concerned minister as he viewed the rather serious recent coastal erosion at his feet and decided something must be done.
The minister said the government has given the green light for €300 million of public works along Portugal’s coastline, but did not give any concrete examples but did mention that this would be spread over a couple of years. The ministerial definition of 'a couple' has yet to be pinned down.
