The Environmental Impact Study of the lake city mega-project in Vilamoura has received an "unfavorable opinion" by the Municipality of Loulé. The project has large environmental impacts, as it foresees the construction of buildings around four saltwater lakes, and also due to its large urban mass, from which 2400 beds would arise. The work would be developed in two phases and would be completed in ten years.
Cristóvão Norte, an Algarvian MP for the Social Democratic Party (PSD) has defended that "there must be foreign tourism" to avoid unemployment and "many bankruptcies". However, in doing so, he also highlighted that it is essential to defend the Portuguese public from the spread of the virus, and thus it must be weighed more heavily in the debate.
Local workers at the JJW Hotels & Resorts Group, owned by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber, will be going on strike on 12 June due to overdue wages. The decision was taken this morning, unanimously, in plenary, at the hotel group's Portuguese headquarters at the Pinheiros Altos project, in Quinta do Lago.
The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly benefited the Algarve citrus industry with an increase in demand and prices, which is foreseen to benefit the total flow of production over the summer, said the president of the Algarve Citrus Operators Association (AlgarOrange).
Theatres, cinemas and other cultural venues across the country got the go-ahead to reopen this Monday as the country entered the third phase of its exit from lockdown - but many stayed shut, fearing audiences would not show up. The coronavirus pandemic was a bitter blow to the already fragile arts sector and performers are desperate to be reunited with their audiences, but reopening too soon could be counter-productive.
The European Union expects dry weather to cause unusually widespread wildfires in Europe over the coming months, including in the central and northern regions that tend to be less at risk, the EU’s crisis management commissioner said this Tuesday. Something else to tick off the 2020 disaster bingo card?
The government gave the green light last Friday to the third phase of lockdown exit, but some restrictions will remain in Lisbon due to localised outbreaks in industrial hubs and outskirts. From June 1, shopping malls, childcare centres, gyms, cinemas, theatres and other cultural venues can reopen across most of the country, but with capacity restrictions.
Local environmental citizenship group “The Last Window to the Sea” has revealed that they “will not tone down” their opposition to a project that foresees the construction of three hotels clustered in Ponta de João de Arens, in Portimão, which is under public consultation.
