Representatives from the citizens' movement for the EN125’s eastern section have handed a petition to parliament, signed by 7,133 people.
Demanding that the crumbling road receives an immediate upgrade, between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António, locals are angry that the government has failed to maintain one of the two entry roads to the Allgarve region used by hundreds of thousands of tourists during the holiday season - and by locals, all year round, as they try and go about their necessary business.
Local MP, Cristovão Norte, from the opposition Social Democratic Party, has been appointed as an official rapporteur for the road users group. As the petition must now be considered by parliament, it has been decided that a meeting should take place, not in Lisbon but in Vila Real de Santo António,
This is so, "parliament can meet the citizens face to face,” and make up their minds as to the veracity of the claims that the surface of the EN1225 is in an appalling state of degradation, is dangerous to drive along and gives the impression to visitors that the Algarve region is little more than a third world backwater.
Norte said that moving the official debate to the Algarve, “is something that has never been done in the Algarve and almost never in the country.”
In addition to the petitioners, the mayors of Vila Real de Santo António and Castro Marim, as well as MPs from various parliamentary groups, soon will assemble to meet locals in a meeting that will be open to everyone.
MP, Cristovão Norte
