Works in the eastern section of the Ancão Peninsula, at Praia de Faro, in Faro, which includes the demolition of 17 houses, is now halfway through and is expected to be completed by the end of April. Work on the western section, where the demolition of a further 25 houses is planned, will then remain to be carried out.
“This is a first phase. We will continue to assess situations on a case-by-case basis, speaking with people who, on a voluntary basis, wish to move into new, more comfortable housing, because they are at risk here, and virtually all of them have signed up to this project,” Maria da Graça Carvalho, the Environment Minister, said at the weekend on the sidelines of a visit to the works.
According to the minister, there are currently seven families who have not yet agreed to be rehoused in the homes built for this purpose in the parish of Montenegro, also in Faro, which were inaugurated in August by the Prime Minister.
Asked by journalists what the solution would be the cases of resistance from local residents who do not want to appease the Government’s project, the minister replied: “The solution is for them to remain here.”
“We are gradually talking to people. What we have seen is that, initially, they may not accept, but later, when they start to see that other families feel much better and have improved their living conditions, they often change their minds. This will therefore be a process of dialogue with people, and I am convinced that, in the end, almost all of them will change,” she stressed.
Of the 49 brand-new housing units inaugurated in August with the primary aim of rehousing fishing families living around Praia de Faro, only 29 are currently occupied.
António Pina, Mayor of Faro, stated that “only after the process of coordinating with the people who are leaving here is concluded” can the municipality discuss with the ministry “what will be done with the remaining houses, because they were built with funding from the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) for that specific purpose”.
“The objective of the works is the demolition of 49 precarious buildings, used as primary residences, of an illegal nature, located on public land,” read a notice published in the Diário da República back in May.
The process also included, as the document noted, “three cases of family division”.
A further 15 buildings belonged to households which, “although they did not complete the rehousing process, are located in a risk zone, subject to coastal retreat and erosion in the western nucleus,” the APA stated.
The remaining eight houses were already vacant, due either to the death of residents or voluntary departure.
Source: Sul Informação
Photo credit: Mariana Carriço
