Property development company Benagil, Realizações Turisticas SA has received the final approval from Lagoa council enabling the construction of a large resort between Benagil beach and Praia da Marinha.
The plan has approval from Lisbon with the awarding of the essential Projectos de Potencial Interese Nacional (PIN) status, thus enabling many normal planning barriers to be avoided.
Next to this development is another one, stretching from Praia da Marinha as far as Crastos behind the emblematic Nossa Senhora da Rocha promontory. This project also has approval and is a ‘private investment’ according to Lagoa council.
Hotels of 4 and 5 stars are planned and a golf course, adding to the Algarve’s abundance of golf venues and coralling a large area of countryside for luxury construction.
Benagil SA has as its main shareholder Luis Filipe Vieira, known to many as the president of Sport Lisboa e Benfica and whose property interests are wide-ranging.
The overall spend of the two projects, an estimated €220 million, represents the largest private investment ever recorded in the Lagoa council area.
The Benagil Resort part in this development was published in the Government Gazette in 2008 and work was planned to start in 2009, pending the council’s final approval. The 75 hectare site is of ‘great scenic and environmental quality’ according to the developer at that time, ‘and will end up with 1,279 beds in a hotel, semi-detached villas and apartments.’
The former mayor of Lagoa, José Inácio Marques, said in 2008 "This project is a Project of National Interest, which says much about its importance and the benefits it will bring to the county."
The Benagil Resort will create 400 direct jobs, in addition to those that will be needed in the construction, according to the former mayor.
A spokesman at Lagoa council, now run by Francisco Martins, when questioned by the press, maintains that the job creation aspect makes the project worth while, despite the necessary destruction of a large area of countryside.
In comments also published in the Portugal News the un-named Council spokesman said that as far as Lagoa council was concerned “no disadvantages can be seen” given the “rigorous assessment” that both projects have undergone regarding the environment, also that both projects comply with the Coastal Land Plan.
Bengil SA is controlled by Grupo Inland which also owns the stalled Verdelago project in Altura, Castro Marim in which Viera has an interest. This project has an area of 93 hectares and an extensive sea front in a natural green area of coast where a five star hotel with 197 rooms, a golf course with 18 holes and a tourist village with 340 housing units are to be built.
Benagil’s original development plan, UP11 is summarised as follows by specialist planning company Terraforma:
UP11 Plan - Lagoa
Plano de Urbanização da UP 11 – Lagoa (PU da UP11) – Land-use Zoning Plan for UP11, Lagoa, Algarve
Client: Inland S.A.
Date: 2003-2007, approved and published by the: Aviso nº 4845/2008
Location: Benagil, Lagoa, Algarve
This Plan details and develops the regulations defined by the Municipal General Plan of Lagoa for the Operative Unit nº 11, with an area of 400 hectares, where one or two Touristic Development Nuclei (NDT) are allowed.
The land-use zoning plan defines two NDT, the majority of the area of the Eastern NDT being owned by the client. The Western NDT follows a similar situation. The plan implementation system sets the distribution of benefits and costs among all the landed property owners in each NDT.
The plan also includes many options which result from the review of the Algarve Regional Plan (enforced in 2006), especially in what concerns the regulations on the coastal protection, even though the Plan was still made under the older Regional Plan from 1991.
The plan also redesigns some main infrastructures which are exterior to the two NDT, but which are relevant for the overall development of the whole area.
For a map of the development are for the Benagil Tourist Development, Click on this link:
