A secondary pedestrian access to the new Faro Riverside Park which opened last weekend has been destroyed by the disgruntled owner the land who is determined that the public no longer has access.
The entrance at the western, Montenegro end of the 15 hectare park is on land that the council has failed to purchase and which now stands in the way of extending the walking and cycleway as far as Faro island.
The public still has access to the Riverside Park at the rear of the Faro Municipal Theatre, according to a helpful comment from the mayor, Rogério Bacalhau who explained today that the council has been in negotiations with the owner who is asking for double the council’s valuation of the land in question.
"An agreement has not yet been possible," said Bacalhau who declined to comment on the actions of the landowner who has destroyed the secondary access to an area that has been used by the public for at least 20 years.
Negotiations will continue but the Mayor of Faro admitted that the council may have to make a compulsory purchase order if a new price can not be agreed. In the meantime the council has informed the owner of the land and buildings, Valter Alfaiate, with the news that his land may be considered Domínio Público Marítimo and can therefore be siezed by the state, hence he ought to sell it to the council now at the lower price.
The Faro Riverside Park so far has cost €3.5 million as part of the Polis Litoral Ria Formosa redevelopment along the Algarve's eastern coastline.
The council has said it is pointless fixing the damaged entrance where a bridge entrance and pathway has been dug up until the land has been purchased.
The problem is the price of the land as the owner wants the €450,000 agreed at a council meeting in 2011. The current valuation of the land is said by the council to be €190,000, hence the problem.
