The project to build a luxury resort near the cliff tops at Bengil, Lagoa has suffered a body blow with the Environmental Impact Commission issuing a red light for the €180 million tourist development.
A project was submitted to use 22 hectares of unspoiled countryside for a hotel, a tourist village and a hotel-apartment building, a total of 1,279 tourist beds. The development land is 300 metres from the cliffs between Benagil and Marinha beaches.
The project submitted by Benagil - Promoção Imobiliária S.A. involved the replacement and improvement of parts of the municipal road between Caramujeira and Benagil and the construction of two public car parks near to Benagil beach.
The build time was estimated at ten years, starting from 2019.
However, the Commission has damned the plan, stating that existing tourist pressure in the area, especially at the two popular beaches, an inevitable five-fold increase in traffic along the coastal road, the strong visual intrusion, the ‘artificialisation’ of a preserved stretch of coastline and the fate of a rare and protected plant, Linaria algarviana, all have contributed to its decision to issue an adverse Environmental Impact Statement.
Benagil Promoção Imobiliária is owned by FIMES Oriente, under the control of Novo Banco, which intended to develop the 12-year-old project originally proposed by Luís Filipe Vieira Ferreira, the property developer and Benfica president.
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