In the green corner we have Quercus – the country’s most respected environmental association. In the red corner we have Algarve retailers – desperate to make money in an economic climate that never seems to get any easier.
And in the golden corner we have furniture giant IKEA with a ground-breaking proposal for a shopping development like no other ever seen before this side of Lisbon. Jumping up and down in the wings is Joe Public delighted by the idea of a stylish, up-to-date and affordable interiors emporium setting up between the boroughs of Loulé and Faro.
Cutting through arguments citing the loss of green fields, unfair competition and expedient politics, can the “nays” in this long-running battle possibly win the day?
Leading the fight is ACRAL, the association that sent out a communiqué last week warning that the “unparalleled” “gigantic” development proposed by IKEA poses serious risks to the Algarve’s economy and environment.
As ACRAL’s boss Vítor Guerreiro has explained repeatedly, the association considers IKEA’s €200 million project “totally disproportionate to the needs of the area” which, it says, is already overloaded with commercial centres and superstores.
It’s an argument that has been wholeheartedly supported by other retailers’ associations, hoteliers and even Quercus, which adds that the project should never have got the go-ahead in the first place, as it is earmarked for land that used to be Reserva Agrícola Nacional (nationally reserved for agriculture).
News last week was that ACRAL was “riding into battle” with fellow associations after IKEA had begun clearing land in readiness for the start of building.
The association sent out a memorandum to 80 national entities, including the offices of the President of the Republic and Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.
The mail drop, widely reported in the local and national media, raised the point that judicial proceedings were still underway to determine “the illegality of acts practised in the sense of allowing for the installation of the mega-project” – thus intimating that building should not begin before the courts had come to a decision.
But this week, as earthmovers continue to work on the site for the mega development, ACRAL had received almost zero response from its mass mail-out.
“The situation is exactly the same,” Vítor Guerreiro told us – stressing he did not wish to comment further as he did not know “what is in people’s heads”.
Meantime, commentary on social media and English-speaking websites is all for the project first mooted in 2009.
As one reader of online news portal Algarve Daily News wrote: “As I don’t know of anybody who isn’t keenly awaiting the opening of the IKEA store in Loulé, maybe it is time to start a huge protest against the actions of all these associations and their questionable arguments against this project.
“Hopefully this might make them notice that what they’re doing is actually against public interest and it might also send IKEA a sign that people do really want them here and keep them from just packing up and leaving”.
IKEA stands firm
Packing up and leaving could not be further from the Swedish retail giant’s agenda. Spokesperson Ana Teresa Fernandes confirmed this week that it is all systems go in the Algarve, and that IKEA is “extremely proud” to be bringing its new project to southern Portugal.
“This shopping centre will be very different” to what people locally have been used to, she assured us. “It will be much more modern, and user- and family-friendly”.
“People living in the Algarve really want an IKEA store,” she added. “We know that. I don’t want to comment about the protests, as we have done everything by the book to secure this project with all the relevant national entities.
The plan so far…
As far as we know, the IKEA plan involves much more than the habitual furniture outlet. Along with its own megastore, there will be two large shopping centres boasting as many as 200 retail outlets, as well as a cinema complex, food halls and car park capable of taking up to 2,600 vehicles.
The project is earmarked over a 40,000 hectare site near the junction of the Loulé/Faro stretch of Via do Infante motorway and the Algarve stadium. CLICK HERE to see more images.
According to IKEA, the project will bring 3,000 new jobs to the area. The retail success story has always stressed that local firms stand to gain from its arrival on the scene, as IKEA stores generally bring people flocking to the areas in which they are operating, thus generating spin-off business.
Ana Teresa Fernandes actually put the percentage of extra spin-off business at 20%.
Fears in perspective
ACRAL and fellow associations including ANJE (the association of young Algarve businessmen), CEAL (confederation of Algarve businesses), AHETA (the hotels and resorts association), AEQV (Quarteira and Vilamoura businesses) and NERA (regional business association) are all fearful that business will not in fact hold up against heavyweight competition.
Backed by local Socialist politicians, they put the threat into perspective.
The Algarve already has more than double the national average of shopping centres per square metre: a figure that translates into 461sqm per 1,000 inhabitants, as per 240sqm nationally. Can it really take another square centimetre, let alone 400 hectares?
As Faro councillor Paulo Neves pointed out in heated discussions last week, the new project – covering an area three-and-a-half times that of Faro’s Forum Algarve – will “profoundly affect the economic and social development” of the borough.
But the posts on social media show locals could barely give two hoots for the protests.
Trying to stop IKEA now looks very much like a modern-day story of King Canute trying to stop the tide. Intriguingly, King Canute (or Cnut the Great, as he was also called) was part Swedish!
This news story was reproduced with kind permission of the Algarve Resident. For more news, see www.portugalresident.com.
