The mayor of Castro Marim is prepared to “take to the streets” along with a civic group, to complain about the state of the eastern section of the EN125.
Francisco Amaral was being interviewed about the degraded state of the EN125, which, “should shame any Portuguese citizen.”
The mayor is "tired and losing his patience" and plans to protest in the street to alert those responsible in government as to the state of one of the Algarve’s principal roads, between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António.
"This is a road that serves the Algarve in general and is used by thousands of tourists throughout the year. I think we should all be ashamed about the state the EN125 is in,” said the mayor.
Amaral says that he has met the management of Infraestruturas de Portugal many times, both in Lisbon and in Faro, to try get a start time for the road upgrade. The "answer is always the same, the job is on hold because of the Court of Auditors, but this answer is wearing pretty thin."
The mayor says he has already suggested to the council that, in addition to putting pressure on the Court of Auditors, "I am considering involving the Civic Movement for the Defence of the EN125, and that we protest in the street. I am not very adept of this type of protest but I believe that this is the time to consider this action because in our country what does not appear on the television does not gain any visibility."
Francisco Amaral said to local media service, Algarve Primeiro, that the state of the road is scandalous, “We all know that courts have their own timings and their very own way of acting and this we all respect,” adding that the government could get things moving if it wanted to.