The Secretary of State for Infrastructure assured the Algarve that the road-works on the EN125 will be suspended, but not until the end of June - when the tourist season will be pretty much in full swing.
The guarantee was given on Wednesday by Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins in Faro at the opening of a long awaited roundabout and link to the north of Faro that allows access to the EN2.
The Secretary of State assured his audience that “during the month of June we will be finalising all the road-works on the EN125 to ensure that, from July 1st (until August 31st) all will be quiet and clear along the EN125."
Guilherme d'Oliveira Martins claimed that he "already have noticed the critical points for the completion of road-works,” and that the suspension of work will “give tourists and those coming to the Algarve stability and peace on their journeys.” It is not known how many moons there are circling his particular planet.
In this last month of work before the official high season, signage and road markings will be added. “We will ensure, during this month, that this is done as soon as possible."
After the summer season, "the works will re-start. We are seeing how we can reschedule the work in negotiation with the concessionaire," and admitted that there is no actual end-date to the contract for the work on the EN125.
Martins said there has been a special effort from the Government regarding the EN125 and its road-works "as it is the alternative to the A22 motorway. We know that the A22 is a toll road and, accordingly, special care will be taken. "
It seems though that not only is the Algarve building up to to the biggest tourist season for at least a decade, but the season has started already with hotels filling up, beaches fully manned and concessions doing good trade from last weekend.
The Algarve hotels association wants an immediate suspension of the road-works on the EN125 so as “not to hinder traffic in the period of tourist inflow to the region.”
Hotel association boss Elidérico Viegas stressed that the Algarve is visited by more than four million tourists between May and October, probably more this year, and considered it wholly insufficient to stop the road-works from as late as July.
Viegas also commented that the actual work seems to be going slowly, or even backwards and believes that there has been a "lack of planning" in carrying out the work that has caused widespread discontent.
