The Verdelago Land Detail Plan, which details a tourist development to be installed between Altura and Praia Verde, in the municipality of Castro Marim, will be revised in order to make the planned hotel more discrete and fitting with the surroundings.
Filomena Sintra, deputy mayor of Castro Marim, explained the reason why the Castro Marinese municipality decided to change the Verdelago Plan: “This venture has been approved for 20 years and has been issued since 2010. But the corporate structure has changed and launched an international project to think of ideas to make a change to the hotel design.”
“The idea now is to do something much less intrusive, much more adjusted to the landscape”, framed the mayor. The new project brings "a significant improvement for all," and the Council considers that "it is better to pursue this long path by amending the Detail Plan."
“This was a significant change to the structure of the hotel, we thought it would be more transparent and less doubtful to change the Detail Plan rather than adjusting the interpretation of the existing plan - because the Council has autonomy to change a building within the plan, ”said Filomena Sintra.
As for the changes made to the original project, which envisaged the creation of a five-star hotel, a holiday village, a shopping and services area, and an 18-hole golf course, it is still hoped that the hotel doesn’t intrude too much on the landscape.
The mayor admits that this is an unusual practice: “The community, society and institutions are not used to these changes being in favour of less intrusive solutions. It's usually the opposite” she laughs.
She recalls that "measures to minimize the environmental impact" of the project have been published in Diário da República for over ten years, and that "all measures to safeguard both the natural heritage and the historical have been contemplated”.
The company behind the project have stated that the Verdelago project has an “intervention area of 955.520 square metres, in an already urbanized space.” The Council also point out how the “Verdelago venture is a very important investment for Castro Marim, reinforcing the council's development strategy and affirming, from the public interest point of view, a venture in the economic development of the municipality and the region.”
The draft amendment to the plan is to be submitted for approval by the Castro Marim Municipal Assembly by the end of 2019, and the construction work for the hotel and associated buildings is expected to begin “by mid-2020”.
The intention to create the Verdelago project has been around for around 30 years now, and the beginning of its construction was announced in 2011. Prior to that, there was a failed attempt to move forward with a venture by the first landowners, a group of Finnish investors, in the 1980s and 1990s.
The land later ended up in the hands of the Inland real estate company Luís Filipe Vieira, president of SAD Benfica, and the project was classified as a National Interest Project in 2006.
The project should have begun properly in 2011, but the economic crisis dictated that it should remain on paper for a few more years. Now, the development is in the hands of Verdelago Sociedade Imobiliária, which is largely (75%) owned by an investment fund.
