Albufeira council has announced that there soon will be a crematorium available to handle some of the 5,000 deaths a year in the Algarve.
The current option of a journey to the facility in Ferreira do Alentejo, Beja will be augmented by the first crematorium in the Algarve which the council says will be functioning by 2017.
Clearly targeted at expat families which prefer cremation to the burial of their loved ones, the crematorium will be built next to the existing cemetery and two tenders already have been received for its construction.
The estimated demand for around 40 cremations a month will be handled by an un-named company which will lease the facility from the council and offer a cremation service for an estimated €400.
If the deal goes ahead, which it looks likely to, this brings an end to decades of speculation that the Algarve soon will provide a cremation service and will be welcomed by many Algarve families currently faced with a long round trip for the final farewell.
There are two crematoria in Lisbon, one in Oporto and one near Beja at Ferreira do Alentejo yet the Algarve's councils consistently have failed to provide a service to the sizeable expat community.
In 2013, the then mayor of Faro, Macário Correia told Correio da Manhã that the approval for a crematorium “is in its final phase” and Albufeira council run by interim mayor José Carlos Rolo, launched a public tender in December 2012 construction and management of a crematorium, stating at the time that there were parties interested in the investment.
Loulé council planned to build a crematorium, but the sponsoring company decided to pitch for the Faro concession which never went ahead and Portimão council has long planned for a crematorium, once it had built a new cemetery.
The Albufeira announcement is the closest yet to providing a cremation service for those families averse to the traditional burial and upset at the current delay at the facility near Beja where delays of a week are not uncommon.
