Faro council is to spend an extra €4.3 million this year in "works in support to associations and parishes," according to mayor Rogério Bacalhau who also promised that the Christmas lights will be back on after years of gloom.
The council has invested in nothing much at all in the past few years as Bacalhau put in place measures to repair the council accounts left less than healthy by former mayor Macário Correia.
Since 2010 the council has been using any surplus cash to pay off a backlog of debt to local suppliers but at the end of 2015, the council reported a surplus of €5.4 million, mainly due to shifting short term borrowings to longer term ones under the government scheme to help councils’ finances.
The council still owes €43 million (€71 million in 2010) but now is running at a surplus and has no suppliers waiting for payment outside of stipulated settlement dates.
Of the money to be released, the lion’s share will go to the existing programme to refurbish Faro and also to repair the council area’s county roads.
The repairs to Faro include long-overdue work on public buildings such as schools, swimming pools, leisure areas and sports facilities.
The remaining funds will be used to support associations and parish councils to invest in downtown Faro with Christmas lights back at last and plans for a big bash on New Year’s Eve.
Faro also plans to take on the 2017 Ikea opening head on to ensure the new shopping centre on the Faro/Loulé boundary does not stifle trade in the regional capital.
The council wants to adopt measures to support local trade worth €250,000 this year, under the wooly headings of “stimulating creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship” and getting visitors to Faro’s shopping areas.
There is the inevitable Action Plan for Urban Regeneration which involves swapping city centre light-bulbs for low-energy ones and other initiatives including the establishment of an Advisory Council for Lower Town Trade.
This will be run by Paulo Santos, vice President of Faro Council who is in touch with the city’s shopkeepers to prepare "the challenge for Faro next year which is known to all," referring to the opening of IKEA and the shops in the new Ikea shopping centre which we must try to start calling ‘Mar Shopping Algarve.’
"We have to look at the situation as a challenge and see it as an opportunity, a situation that attracts people and we want these people to come to Faro and visit the city, taking advantage of all that Faro has to offer," says Santos, adding "Faro has much more to offer than any commercial structure whatsoever with its history, heritage, way of life and the quality that we value."
Over in Loulé, long dormant plans for yet another shopping centre have been dusted off and re-presented.
A €418 million business and leisure development has just had outline approval from the government and the council which now expects a detailed plan from the developer.
A 3,500-seater congress facility, a water sports theme park, wellness centre and shops are part of the development on 60 hectares being proposed by Enola Invest at a site near the old beer factory at Campina de Baixo.
The planned centre is not far at all from the new Ikea site and local business leaders point out that having two such offers near to each other may prove counterproductive.
