The original €1.2 million investment in stringing together and managing the pan-Algarvean route much loved by walkers in off-season temperatures is in danger of being wasted by the councils through whose domain the trail runs.
Council leaders were ‘very interested’ at the recent presentation and last-ditch appeal for funding by the route’s managers Almargem whose staff have done so much to turn the idea of a walkers’ route from the Guadiana to the west coast into a highy successful reality.
The council chiefs have not agreed the management plan proposed by Almargem and hence will not fund the route’s continuation which would cost each of the 11 councils just €3,000 per year each.
The excuse for this parsimony was that ‘priority went to other projects’ but few other projects offer such economic benefits for such a low cost.
Anabela Santos, the route’s champion, said that the councils have failed to grasp the management model proposed and now that the original EU grant aid officially ran out on July 31st the route has no management, no repair and maintenance, no guides, no rubbish collection, no promotion and publicity and no hope for a promising future as one of the Algarve’s finest tourism nature offerings.
Santos has been in talks with the councils for at least 18 months and said that all efforts were made to enable the councils each to agree to a low financial contribution. They have failed to do so.
The president of the Community Intermunicipal do Algarve (AMAL), Jorge Botelho, recognises a ‘failure of leadership’ to resolve the funding of the Via Algarviana, "We could not achieve a consensus or a solution within AMAL as to the management model."
AMAL’s own Intermunicipal Plan defining development strategy to 2020 emphasises out of season tourism and the consequent gains to local remote economies but the mayors seem keener to support high profile festivals and events that this quiet, effective and low cost walking route that brings pleasure to tourists and money to villages where food and shelter are provided.
Via Agarviana was established in 2006 with 300 kilometres and since has been extended to 800 kilometres due to demand.
Even AMAL’s president agrees that Almargem had done a good job but Jorge Botelho, who also is the the mayor of Tavira, says it has not yet been possible to get his mayoral colleagues to agree to fund the route.
The decision on funding was scheduled to be taken at an AMAL meeting in mid-July but strangely it was left off the agenda. Conveniently there is no August meeting so hopefully funding can again be discussed at the September get-together but the mayors seem determined to leave the route un-managed and promoted.
If AMAL is expecting the tourist board, either national or regional, to fund the route's management, it will have a long wait. This is a local project and needs a local resolution to its management.
Everyone thinks the Via Algarviana is a good idea, but nobody is prepared to chip in to fund its continuation.
