Six Algarve business associations are entering a third injunction against the construction of a commercial complex near Loulé which includes an IKEA store.
The president of the Trade and Services Association of the Algarve Region (ACRAL) contests the size of the 40 hectare project and the environmental impact study paid for and presented by IKEA, as he considers the construction of the commercial complex “affects the Algarve.”
"The complex will create a new business centrality and all the region's economy will suffer," said Victor Guerreiro, who believes that for each job the project creates, two will disappear thus creating further imbalances in the region with a "brutal impact" on families in the Algarve.
In May 2015, the Swedish group received a commercial licenses for the construction of an IKEA store, shopping centre and retail outlet between Loulé and Faro, a project that foresees the creation of 3,000 direct and indirect jobs for an investment of €200 million.
The company expects to open the Loulé store in 2016, and the remaining complex, composed of the shopping center and retail outlet, in 2017.
Victor Guerreiro does not believe the process is irreversible and promises to keep fighting against the development whose size he does not consider as appropriate for the Algarve.
The latest injunction is to be lodged in court by Algarve, Trade and Services Association of the Algarve Region (ACRAL), the Quarteira and Vilamoura Businessmen Association, the Algarve Hotel Association (AHETA), the Association of Hoteliers in the Algarve (AIHSA) and the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of the Algarve (CEAL).
These same organisations presented an injunction in 2013 to try to prevent the IKEA development. In 2011, four of these six associations tried legally to contest the urbanisation plan but the court agreed with IKEA.
One issue is Loulé council’s 2013 decision to alter the land use categorisation to enable part of the development to go ahead. This Caliços-Esteval urbanisation plan involved the reclassification of some land that once was in the National Agricultural Reserve (RAN).
