Twelve Blue Flag beaches are in danger of having their awards withdrawn unless the tortuous tendering process for repairs can be speeded up in time for the summer season.
The president of the Blue Flag programme says that there could be an 'exceptional extension' of the flag raising date for affected beaches, but the worry is that work will not start at all on some of the country's finest beaches.
Because of the ravages of last winter’s storms that affected much of Portugal’s coastline, wrecking beach access infrastructure and safety equipment, twelve beaches that have just been awarded Blue Flag status, only received the accolade on condition that all repair work was complete.
It is now up to local councils and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Paulo Lemos, to make sure that this is done but with many tenders for the work yet to be assessed and the wrok assigned, they are cutting it fine.
"If things are well managed we can have works in progress during May so that at the beginning of the holiday season, which in many northern beaches is not until June 15th, the essential work will have been completed," said Lemos today, adding "We will have a progress meeting with the Blue Flag Association on Thursday in relation to all the works along the coast and to see the best way forward for local authorities in order to preserve the blue flags beaches."
"Let's see if this is possible and under what conditions ," Lemos added, saying that the tenders for some of the the work has already been released and "there is work that already has begun, especially along the north coastal areas," while elsewhere "work will begin next week, especially in the central coast and Costa Caparica."
It should be no surprise that local authorities have to follow the rules before lifting a shovel, in this case handily provided in the terms and conditions of the Programa Operacional Temático Valorização do Território (POVT). If the paperwork is not finished in time, work will not start and beaches, especially in the Algarve, may not have essential safety and repair work started until after the summer season.
The minister admitted that the tendering process had not even started for some beaches despite the POVT having been launched on February 25th.
The councils’ applications were all received by 25th March, the submissions are then analyzed and the remainder should be approved "by the end of this week," according to the Secretary of State.
The local councils must follow the bureaucratic procedure to access the 100% funding that has been made available, wht«ether this means the beaches are up to scratch or not.
