The Minister of Planning and Infrastructure, Pedro Marquês, visited the eastern Algarve to state with his characteristic confidence, that the western Algarve roadworks have cost €80 million and this had been a Socialist Government production.
Marquês was meeting and greeting on the EN125 near Olhão on Wednesday to mark the end of the EN125 and EN124 emergency roadworks, made necessary by years of zero investment by his government.
"The EN125 is not what it was like when we came to government. More than €80 million of works already have been completed on the EN125 by this government and we will not stop there. We will do more roadworks, structural rehabilitation and paving along the rest of the EN125," assured Marquês, who has had years to get this job done and remains coy about a start date for the completion of the EN125 upgrade.
The western section of this notorious road was fixed up by Rotas do Algarve Litoral, while work on the eastern EN125 was suspended, pending a decision from the Court of Auditors on contractual matters. The management of the eastern section now comes directly under Infraestruturas de Portugal so there is no reason for work to be delayed further.
Regarding the much discussed Olhão bypass, Pedro Marquês stated, "We are doing the preliminary study that allows us to receive the environmental impact statement, the preliminary study should be completed between August and September, then in 2019, we do the project execution and then the work," i.e. nothing is happening but if enough ministerial waffle is emitted, then noody should complain.
The minister also visited the Guadiana International Bridge, where work budgeted at €9 million, now has a completion date "scheduled for 2019."
Marquês possibly had forgotten the last time he addressed the Guadiana Bridge "urgent repairs" issue, when in September 2015 he announced a €13 million spend to be shared with Spain and that the work would be completed "by the end of the first quarter of 2017," - a date whcih came and went without comment.
The bridge, said the Minister back in 2015, needs a thorough renovation to include structural work, new security features and better lighting.
The project has been approved by the Joint Luso-Spanish Technical Commission and the cost is due to be shared 50:50 with Spain, despite a greater proportion of the bridge being situated in Portugal.
The Minister was accompanied by the vice president of Infrastructure of Portugal, José Serrano Gordo, and was met by Olhão Mayor, António Pina to sign off the emergrecy roadworks that, far from being a shining example of the government's investment in the Algarve, serve to highlight years of doing nothing and hoping the problem of the region's crumbling roads would just go away.
Railway
The Minister’s solution to his own delays in the electrification of the Algarve’s single railway line is to make available trains that run on electricity or diesel and has already issued a tender to employ 50 specialist maintenance staff.
Electrification, said Marquês, "is to be carried out and all projects are being finalised to launch the tender early next year."
"What we can not do is resolve, from one moment to the other, decades of abandonment, namely in the acquisition of rolling stock," concluded the Minister, blaming the distant past for current problems.
