Portugal's Communist Party’s parliamentary group has submitted a draft resolution to parliament to get the EN125 into shape after years of deliberate neglect by the previous government.
The Communist MPs want the new Socialist Party government to adopt the necessary measures to ensure that the roadworks on the Algarve’s EN125 are completed quickly and demand that Infraestruturas de Portugal gets the job done after years of sodding about.
At issue are those various bypasses and access roads which are no longer covered in the contract with the concession holder Rotas Algarve Litoral. The Communist MPs say the Rotas do Algarve Litoral contract must be renegotiated in order to add in the key works and to reduce the previously inflated budget to save the taxpayer money.
The EN125 development work originally was awarded to Rotas do Algarve Litoral in April 2009 and should have been completed in 2011/2012.
However, the previous government opted to reduce the contract’s objectives and to suspend all work that had not been started, plus some work that had been started. Frustration grew, as did the acccident rate.
This is why precious little has happened to relieve places like Odiáxere near Lagos where the EN125 main road goes through a village with 5 sets of traffic lights and numerous pedestrian crossings.
"While the negotiations between Estradas de Portugal and Rotas do Algarve Litoral proceeded at a snail’s pace, the previous government suspended the development work on the EN125," claim the Communist MPs.
Pre-election work resumed on some sections of the road, such as the excellent Faro bypass, but with, "an exasperating slowness," according to the party.
"The previous PSD / CDS government did not finish important work originally planned for the EN125 and the delay in completion of these works penalises users, degrades the quality of life of the people whose villages are on this road, contributes to the degradation the Algarve’s image, deters many tourists, seriously damages the regional economy and exacerbates the economic and social crisis in the Algarve, besides contributing to an increase in road accidents," concludes the Communist draft resolution.
If the Algarve wants to be taken seriously as a tourist destination, this work needs completing, as does much else of course, but a good road system can take away the pain of many other failings.
