A Spanish company putting up greenhouses on the site of the Roman city of Balsa in the Algarve claims it was unaware it needed licences.
Work has been halted at a large area of farmland dedicated to growing raspberries as the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of the Algarve (CCDR) rightly has pointed out that much of the land in question, some 14.8 hectares, is classified as Ecological Reserve.
The farm at Quinta da Torre d'Aires, a 43-hectare property located near Luz de Tavira in the Ria Formosa area stands right on top of Roman remains of huge archaeological significance but only 14.8 hectares is designated as National Ecological Reserve (REN) despite being in an area also protected due its proximity to the Ria Formosa lagoon.
The farm has been leased and Surexport from Huelva in Spain received the go-ahead to start erecting its greenhouses from the Institute for Nature and Forestry Conservation (ICNF).
Despite the farm being in the Natural Park of the Ria Formosa the Spanish company failed to apply for permission at the various other bodies with responsibilities in this protected area.
The manager of the fruit grower, Ignacio Márquez claimed weakly that no one informed the company that the project had to be approved by other organisations.
In September the destruction started with major earthworks on the 14.8 hectares of ecological land and on other areas with the installation of metal greenhouse supports, their foundations, thousands of square metres of plastic sheeting and the installation of an irrigation network.
Astoundingly, it was only due to a complaint from a local expat resident in Tavira that started the process which has resulted in the CCDR stopping any further development on just part of the site.
The French resident’s complaint was followed up with an online petition and letters sent to various entities that resulted in the eventual, and one senses ‘reluctant’, intervention of the Nature Protection Service and the GNR Environment service (SEPNA), the Algarve’s Regional Directorate of Culture and the CCDR.
In early October, the GNR made an inspection of the site and logged an official report citing administrative offence as building had been carried out on protected REN land.
At the end of October, David Santos at the CCDR gave the order to cease all work at the 14.8 hectares of ecological land, "given the ecological sensitivity of the area and to comply with the 'principle of prevention and precaution.'"
Better still, David Santos gave the Spaniards 30 days to return the land to its original state and to remove the illegally erected structures.
The CCRD’s move does nothing to protect the Roman remains outside the 14.8 hectares of REN.
The director of the Algarve's regional culture body said he was only called upon to give 'an opinion' after there were complaints about the earthworks.
The Spaniards are confident that they can carry on with the environmental vandalism and that the necessary licences soon will be issued without great difficulty.
“We're rectifying the situation and hope to be picking raspberries in May," said Ignacio Márquez, adding that there will be 150 jobs created, but not mentioning the traditional use of package deals of imported Nepalese workers earning way below the national minimum wage.
As for the Roman remains, the landowner has never allowed archaeological surveys to take place and now that he has leased the farm to the Spanish, he is likely to care even less for the cultural heritage lying below the soil.
Balsa was the most important Roman city in the south of the Iberian peninsular and was rediscovered in 1866 with significant work carried out in the 1970s showing Balsa to have been larger than Lisbon at the time and a key port of the Roman empire.
The potential destruction of Portugal’s Roman heritage has been dependent on one section of the farm being in the ecological reserve, as for the rest, not one of the many boards, bodies, associations or entities is interested or able to stop a foreign commercial fruit operation ruining Portugal’s patrimony.
