The government announced today that it is to spend €1 million patching up holes in the region’s poorest main roads, the EN125, EN124 and EN396, with just €300,000 allocated to the EN125' eastern section.The Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins, announced the emergency spending today at a meeting in Faro with Algarve council leaders.
The work will start in May and will take 45 days, according to Infraestruturas de Portugal.
"The state of degradation demands an obligation to trigger emergency works," the Secretary of State told reporters after the meeting, claiming that "recent storms have left the roads in a poor condition," while ignoring the fact that years of low to zero investment in the region's main road has created a national embarrassment.
The planned emergency work included resurfacing sections of road, fixing the hard shoulders and remarking the white lines.
As for the EN125, the work will take place between Olhão and the Vila Real de Santo António council border; on the EN124 between Porto de Lagos and Silves, and on the EN396, in Loulé next to the A22 junction.
The road company also will go to tender for work to repair and strengthen the bridge over the Almargem river in Tavira.
As for the €1 million, half of this will be spent on the Tavira bridge, €300,000 will be spent on the EN125, €150,000 will be spent on the EN124 and just €50,000 will be spent on the EN396.
At today’s meeting, Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins ‘estimated’ that the fundamental project to upgrade the eastern EN125, between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António, will start in 2019, under a modification to the sub-concession contract with Rotas do Algarve Litoral, "bearing in mind that we still await the approval of the Court of Auditors,” which will need to approve the contracts and the spend.
The mayors found it hard to be positive about the low spend on emergency roadworks announced today and the predicted delay in starting the main upgrade project. The president of mayors’ group AMAL, Jorge Botelho, said that the poor quality of many of the EN125's sections does not marry well with the vague start date.
Castro Marim’s mayor, Francisco Amaral, said that the light roadworks in the eastern section of the EN125 could have been done ages ago.
"You can cover some holes and paint the road. For us, what is important is the structural intervention and upgrade scheduled for 2019," agreed the mayors of Castro Marim and VRSA, who already have a meeting set up with the Citizens' Movement of the EN125 – Sotavento to discuss the implications of today's announcements.
The Mayor of Silves, Rosa Palma, on hearing the news that work would go ahead to fill in potholes on the EN124, said she will wait and see if the works are anywhere near starting "come May 15th,” the planned commencement date.