“The Algarve is now an absolute national priority,” MP for the Algarve Cristóvão Norte told Parliament, as he outlined measures aimed at correcting what he described as “decades of neglect”.
Speaking in the Assembly of the Republic at the end of last week, the MP and president of the PSD Algarve, Cristóvão Norte, said the Algarve had become an “absolute national priority”, as he listed government initiatives in healthcare, housing, and water resources, while accusing successive Socialist Party (PS) governments of long-standing neglect of the region.
In his political statement, the Social Democratic MP dismissed the portrayal of the Algarve as a “remote holiday playground” and an “unnecessary footnote”, arguing that “the era of empty promises is over”.
“Algarvians feel that the Algarve is for everyone except themselves, and they are right,” he said, adding that the decisions now under way are “irreversible”.
In the area of healthcare, Cristóvão Norte highlighted the approval of PET technology, scheduled for 2027, which will allow cancer patients with specific health needs to be treated in the region and end dependence on facilities outside the Algarve. He added that Algarvians would no longer be treated as “export goods on the infamous Seville route”.
He also pointed to the opening of two new Family Health Units in Portimão and Lagos, and the launch of tenders for five type-C Family Health Units, aimed at reducing the number of residents without a family doctor.
The PSD MP further confirmed that funding for the new Algarve Central Hospital has been secured and that the Government has authorised the launch of the tender.
Turning to the housing crisis, he warned of the impact of high property prices on the ability to attract and retain essential professionals such as police officers, teachers, and doctors. He called for regulated immigration and rejected situations of overcrowding and exploitation. “We want integration, not ghettos,” he said.
On water security, Cristóvão Norte announced investment totalling €470 million, which he described as “the largest insurance policy against drought in the region’s history”. He added that construction of the desalination plant in Albufeira is under way, that the Pomarão project will go out to tender, and that local authorities now have access to 100% funding to reduce water losses.
“The Algarve is no longer the poor relation quietly seated at the end of the table,” the MP concluded, reaffirming his ruling party’s commitment to turning the region into what he describes as a “frontier of prosperity”.
Source: Barlavento
