The government has requested an independent report on the failure of the SIRESP communications system which led to confusion, poor decisions and avoidable deaths in the devastating Pedrógão Grande fires.
The selection of the Telecommunications Institute by Minister for the Interior, Constança Urbano de Sousa, looked all very right and proper until it was pointed out today that this institute is a private body funded by a company that also is a shareholder in SIRESP SA.
Last weekend's mysterious fire that, happily for the Algarve’s waste company freed up scarce landfill space by buring tonnes of dumped rubbish, is under the spotlight from environmental organisation, Almargem, which has demanded an independent inquiry.
The Sotavento Sanitary Landfill run by Algar is located in Vale do Zebro near Cortelha in Loulé, and "had a 20-year shelf life at the time of its inauguration in the year 2000. The increase in the volume of waste deposited, due in part to the unexpected and recent increase in the percentage of recyclable waste into the common waste, has led to its current depletion." (i.e lack of available space).
From Saturday July 1st, accommodation rental websites such as Airbnb, risk fines up to €32,500 if they run ads for properties in Portugal without displaying AL registration numbers.
A new decree law from the Ministry of the Economy reads that "The electronic platforms that make available, advertise or market accommodation ... must demand and display on the platform the respective National Tourist Registry number."
The GNR today has stepped up its traffic patrols and roadside inspections until Sunday evening in the first of five stages of the annual ‘Operation Hermes - travelling with security' that runs until the beginning of September.
According to the GNR, the objective is "to guarantee security during trips to and from summer resorts and the various events being held of this time of the year."
This means that most of the activity will be in the Algarve.
Portugal’s parliamentary political parties agreed today, June 29th, to set up an Independent Technical Commission to investigate the great fire of Pedrógão Grande in which over 60 people died.
The proposal to set up the inquiry will be voted in on Friday but was not endorsed by the Communists and the Greens. The establishment of the commission was accepted by a large majority of MPs and it will run for a maximum three months.
The Portuguese Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism (APHORT), based in Oporto, says that the ‘tourist tax’ is a bad idea and is really a tax on consumption, and proposes instead that "councils should have a share in VAT receipts.”
The tourist ‘per night’ tax started 18 months ago in Lisbon and is due to start in Oporto on 1 January, 2018 but the hoteliers say this is "a municipal fee on overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments," and hence unfair.
The Council of Ministers has approved the agreement that formalises the State’s position as the largest shareholder of TAP, with 50% of the capital.
The private Atlantic Gateway consortium, owned by Humberto Pedrosa and David Neeleman, owns 45% of TAP’s shares, the remained now owned or reserved for TAP employees.
The former head of a Banco Espírito Santo offshoot has been placed under house arrest after being interviewed by a criminal examining judge.
The Attorney General's Office confirmed the house arrest of João Alexandre Silva, former director of BES Madeira and former representative of Banco Espírito Santo in Venezuela.
