Olhão’s Mayor António Pina held a meeting at the Real Marina Hotel to report the council’s financial results of its first two years in office and to outline fun things that may or may not be achieved in the next two years.
Pina was accompanied by his executive, departmental heads, advisors and faced journalists while presenting his achievements which included reducing debts by €7 million from the 2013 figure of €27 million.
The council’s water company reduced its debts by €2.5 million to €12.5 million despite continuing its covert policy of not charging a significant number of its customers.
It remains unclear how a water company that fails to invest in repairing its leaking supply infrastructure and takes full advantage of its captive audience of customers, got into such debt in the first place.
Steep increases in sewage charges seem to have been the prime ingredient for this improved financial performance, but there's more as locals are not fooled by the reduction in Ambiolhao’s debt which simply has been transferred to the council.
The Olhão water company’s debt existed primarily due to its failure to pay Aguas de Algarve for water, while continuing to charge its customers.
Locals now have to pay for their water twice over, once to the water company and again by paying off the council’s debt. This trick is not new among the Algarve’s councils but this does not make it OK.
Pina claims to have maintained spending in three key areas, education, youth and sport, and social action alongside cuts to staff and salaries (down €200,000) and events (down €190,000) with reduced support for the annual Seafood Festival.
The council’s has drawn up an inventory of Olhão’s vacant and abandoned buildings as a precursor to charging owners higher rates to encourage repair and redevelopment. The plague of abandoned cars has been dealt with and over 100 towed away from the city’s narrow streets.
The answer was revealed as to what the earthworks were for at the western end of the city’s seafront. Pina said that a new beach was being made, explaining that the municipality has beaches but that they are nowhere near the city and people need transport to get to them.
The plan to build a beach in an area near the overflowing sewage plant where bivalve production already is category C due to 'high fecal contamination content,' may have its detractors.
The chance of getting the beach classified as such is close to zero as the Environment Agency and the Natural Park Ria Formosa authority have to give the OK to allow humand to bathe in safety.
The new beach in the area adjacent to the marina is close to a planned walkway which will link Olhão to Faro, another plan that will need multi-agency involvement.
The creation of this "urban beach, built in an attractive area and able to attract new visitors, will be an interesting project capable of generating new markets," according to the mayor who may not care to inform the visitors of the health risks.
Pina wants to hold a review of the municipal land use plan, PDM, with an intent to increase building land from 3% to 4% in the municipality; a 25% expansion which has many opposition councillors already planning a lively response, especially as various illegally built properties, with planning consent given by the council, are currently subject to court action with daily fines due from responsible councillors.
As for the historic city city centre, a detailed plan is being prepared to promote the cultural heritage that 'defines the soul of the city.'
Hopefully, this 'soul' will include the retention of the historic calçada cobblestones, much loved by tourists and residents alike, as recent 'redevelopment' by the council has seen hundreds of square metres ripped up and disposed of.
Also planned is the creation of a city park, a green space for recreation: location unknown.
The largest project planned is opposite the Real Marina Hotel which, now the council controls its own waterfront after a deal with Docaspesca recently was approved, will see the construction of a new marina, shops, cafes and recreational areas. This will “generate wealth” said the mayor but did not mention who would be picking up the invoice.
The business sector was not forgotten during the Pina-fest as the "council is ready to create synergies with business people, to find solutions that promote more jobs and produce more revenue, especially for fisheries, aquaculture, agriculture – especially red fruits, and floriculture, but mainly tourism."
The council has decided to sell off the current Fire Station which will be turned into apartments; to build a skate park; to fix the crumbling and uneven pavements; even to install air conditioning in the school at Moncarapacho, and to carry out an almost limitless number of vote-generating projects to ensure Pina is loved and respected by all.
One problem Pina did not allude to is the future of the Sociedade Recreativa Olhanense (Recreativa) building, a social gathering point in the historic city centre, long-ignored by many residents despite it being gifted to the city in 1932 by a wealthy benefactor and occupying a prime position near the main church.
This social club is being evicted next week due to non-payment of a stiffly hiked rent. The freehold is owned by a builder, who somehow got to own this classic building despite it being gifted to the Sociedade Recreativa Olhanense, and has demanded ‘€500,000, or it will be demolished.’
This particular builder has a track record of constructing some of the ugliest apartment blocs in the city, perhaps in the Algarve, and threats of demolition and the construction of apartments are being taken seriously by locals and foreign residents alike.
While locals do not expect the council to buy the building, especially at this inflated price, its preservation and care are within the council’s remit.
The mayor's detractors, and there many, will be keen to see his reaction to this immediate threat.
