Portugal’s privatised Post Office, CTT, unilaterally has informed Ourique Council that the company it is to close its postal service provision in the municipality and will hand it over to a private entity who will assume almost all the responsibilities currently undertaken.
"We can not accept a privatisation of a privatisation,” said the local mayor.
Marcelo Guerreiro, the Mayor of Ourique Council, says it is totally unacceptable that, following the privatisation of CTT by the former Social Democrat-CDS coalition government, that the company’s management has decided, "to abandon the local area and its population, thus failing to comply with the obligations of the postal public service at the level of quality that is required."
The mayor already is highly critical of the government and the Post Office regulator, adding that the move to sub-contract this public service is in total contradiction with the national move to value already deprived inland rural areas.
Ourique Council has announced that it is considering the use of all its powers to safeguard the interests of the population and will insist on CTT’s compliance with its obligations when it was privatised in 2014. CTT should be improving the quality of its service, not passing them on to a third party.
Fearing this move soon will affect other rural municipalities, Ourique Council says it will express its, "indignation and revolt" to the Government, the President of the Republic and the regulator, ANACOM and will muster support from the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and the Intermunicipal Community of Baixo Alentejo.
Moves also are afoot to close the Post Office in Alcoutim, transferring services to the Council.
The local Communist Party group was swift in its response: "this does not serve the interests of the people of Alcoutim because it seeks to deepen the degradation of public services in a territory that has been abandoned by successive governments, but also because the transfer of a part of the services to the local authority, not only does not solve the problem but gives no guarantee of its existence in the future."
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CTT's response to an algarvedailynews enquiry about store closures, reads as follows:
"CTT has been strengthening access points throughout the country, maintaining the relationship of proximity with the population and ensuring that the needs of the clients are assured.
"We now have 2,392 Access Points, that’s 75 more CTT Access Points compared to 2014, the year of privatisation. More than 100,000 customers a day use these outlets.
"CTT Access Points are opening at a faster rate than Post Offices are closing.
"These solutions aim always to provide a better overall quality in the services that CTT provides and to ensure the provision of the public service such as the payment of social benefits, delivery of warnings and the payment of invoices, have the advantage of being more convenient for the population.
"This retail network maintains a strong presence and proximity to the populations and, through the association with partners, this network contributes to the development of the local economy."
The link http://www.ctt.pt/feapl_2/app/open/stationSearch/stationSearch.jspx shows all current outlets.