The Secretary of State for Transport, Sérgio Monteiro, ‘should apologise’ to the Algarve for threatening that there will be no money to fully electrify and upgrade the Algarve railway system if the State has to ‘rescue’ the halted development and safety work on the EN 125, according to the ' Salvar Faro, com o Coração’ (Save Faro with a Heart) movement, which claims that the Secretary of State’s position "offended the Algarve and that this is not to be tolerated."
Monteiro’s statements were made during public discussion in Faro last week on the report from a working group looking into Value Added Infrastructure across the whole country.
"Instead of apologising for the fact that 5 years ago the government stopped the EN 125 work being carried, he went on the attack proposing a further strong penalty for the Algarve,” according to a spokesman who added that the Algarve already is suffering a double blow from the suspension of the EN 125 roadworks and the imposition of tolls - to add a third condition to essential investment is not constructive.
The movement spokesman said "Lisbon continues not to want to see that the EN 125 is a road of death which blocks the economy and downgrades the Algarve in the eyes of foreign tourists.”
Save Faro’s José Vitorino demands an end to tolls on the Via do Infante and a “rail route between the Algarve and Andalucia in Spain in addition to other measures. To attract visitors in sufficient numbers to combat seasonality, it is essential to open the Algarve/Andalucia rail link and put an end to the tolls to attract tourists from the 8.5 million Andalucians living over the border. This can only be done with vision, the railway needs upgrading and a link built to Faro airport."
The Algarve’s railway line and rolling stock are well past their 'sell by' dates and a modern system has been on the drawing board since 1974. This makes it the longest waiting project on the government’s shiny new list of infrastructure projects that it says needs doing to get Portugal back on its feet.
In the meantime, the Lagos to Vila Real de Santo António railway has seen a steady decline in passengers since 2010. To be fair, €39 million was spent on the line between 2007 and the end of last year, but the trains continue without electrification and the service remains uncompetitive, not helped by ancient carriages.
Other projects that the Algarve awaits include the construction of a new central hospital, dredging the Arade and Guadiana rivers to make them navigable, dredging areas of the Ria Formosa, upgrading the ports in Portimao and Faro, renovation of the ports of Tavira and Olhao, the list is a long one.
