The Algarve soon is to be blessed with yet another shopping centre, this time in Alcantarilha where the Conjunto Comercial Quintas do Rogel is to be built on the A22 motorway access roundabout on the EN125. The planned layout is for six blocks of shops organised around a central square. The gross leasable area is 1.68 hectares with enough space for 36 shops and another supermarket.
The project, from the company Alroge, includes 522 outdoor parking spaces and 113 under cover. Access will be made via a new 200 metre road connected to the current Alcantarilha roundabout. The project's promoter plans to create around 500 direct jobs.
The project later may benefit from the a link between the Alcantarilha roundabout and Armação de Pêra, a plan that is sitting in the in-tray at Infraestruturas de Portugal.
In addition to the shopping centre, a new filling station will be built at the southern part of the new commercial complex.
The company says the construction phase of the new retail complex will take about a year.
The project is currently under evaluation for its environmental impact with a public consultation period ending on May 11th.
Unsurprisingly, the Association of Commerce and Services of the Algarve Region (ACRAL) is totally against the creation of another shopping centre in the Algarve and is only now coming to terms with IKEA’s Mar Shopping Algarve near Loulé.
The association says the creation of yet more commercial space, is "an economic error."
The president of ACRAL commented that "another shopping centre does not add value or anything else to the existing tourist offer - it is, in fact, counterproductive."
Álvaro Viegas says the impact of these out-of-town shopping centres adds to, "desertification, urban degradation, loss of social and cultural dynamics and the devaluation of the city itself as a centre of tourism attraction and investment."
Viegas says the Algarve needs to fix up its town centres and increase promotional activity, because "this is how we show our heritage, our culture and our way of living - the experience that the tourist really expects and wants to experience.”
From the economic point of view, says Viegas, this investment decision also is not prudent, since it "ignores market conditions". In his opinion, "the business model of shopping centres is exhausted - it is a mature and saturated market, there is no room for more."
The consultation documnts are at the CCDR-Algarve site: http://participa.pt/consulta.jsp?loadP=2206
