Portimão council has transferred land to enable the government to build a new police station in a €5 million project.
The Judicial Police of Portimão will have a long-awaited new building. The land transfer is the first stage and the protocol was signed today, May 29th, in the presence of the Minister of Justice, Francisca Van Dunen.
The 4,000m2 area is in Raminha and is big enough for the new police station with space left over for parking.
The site is near the city and the main roads but is not cheap with a patrimonial value of €347,000.
The decision to sell off the land was unanimous and the mayor, Isilda Gomes, justified the give-away by saying the police needed good working conditions, which they do not have in the current building and that "it’s important to offer security, not only for the resident population but also for the tourists who value safety more and more when they are deciding on a holiday destination."
As for the actual building, Francisca Van Dunen said the project will be "delayed by about a year" with the work expected to start in 2019 (sic) and to be completed in 2020.
To build the new police station, Van Dunen is "counting on an investment of about 5 million euros."
It is not know how and why the council owned the land, not how much the council paid for it before giving it away.
