Victory can be celebrated for the Algarve’s drivers as the 10 kilometre cut on the EN125 between Maritenda and the Fontainhas traffic lights is not going ahead today as was planned nor will roadworks be started any time this summer.
Infraestrutura de Portugal (IP) of course has tried to blame the sub-contractor for the proposed road closure announced on Friday evening and due to start on Monday morning continuing at least until mid-July.
The works on the bridge over the railway line neat Boliqueime and the junction at Fontainhas still need to be fixed but will not be done through the summer months.
An IP spokesman said this morning that the diversion proposed by its contractor Rotas do Algarve Litoral had not been cleared by the authorities, so IP did not authorise the road closure, later adding that in fact it has been pressure from Loulé council that had been the deciding factor.
Speaking to Sul Informação, Loulé mayor Vítor Aleixo explained that "this was major work and the Secretary of State said that there’s no way this can go ahead. It would be crazy cut the EN125 at this time of year.”
Vítor Aleixo agrees the work needs doing, but not at this time of year, "Already last year, Rotas do Algarve Litoral asked to cut the road and to set up a diversion but this was timed for the summer, so we refused. In January this year, the council gave permission for the work to go ahead as long as it was done by Easter.”
With little warning, many drivers followed the diversion signs this morning as there were signs already in place to indicate the EN125 was closed off. This was not necessary as the road will remain open until at least the end of the summer.
Stupidity has been nipped in the bud with IP blaming the sub-contractor for a decision with which IP was fully in agreement. What has become evident is that the sub-contractors schedule has slipped and the current roadworks inevitably will carry on into the early summer months.
The devious timing of the road closure announcement, coming just after the tolls debate in parliament last Friday, already had put Infraesturas de Portugal in a poor light but its blaming of the sub-contractor for this potential EN125 closure disaster leaves few unaware that the company's relationship with responsibility remains a distant one.
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