The increase in the capacity of the cruise port of Portimão has long been a desire of both the Algarve municipality and the Administration of the Ports of Sines and Algarve (APS). The infrastructure is seen as an important gateway for tourists – with a steady rise to 36,786 passengers disembarked in 2018 and a decline to 22,861 in 2019. This reduction is explained by the silting of the bar and the increasing size of cruise ships, that the portimonense port is no longer capable of receiving.
As a result, the announcement that the work on the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) of the project was going into public consultation was received as excellent news by both the municipality and APS, which promotes the project. But on the other side of the mouth of the River Arade, in Ferragudo, which already belongs to the municipality of Lagoa, the reaction was quite different. “If I live in a ground floor and want to have a giraffe, I don’t make a hole in the neighbor’s house to fit the neck”, summarizes Luís Veríssimo, president of the Ferragudo Parish Council.
The Portimão Port Navigation Channel Deepening and Widening project provides for the dredging of 4,630,000 m3 (4,010,000 m3 in a first phase) of sand and other material from the bed of the mouth of the Arade, in order to allow the docking of cruises up to 334 meters long and draft of 8.33 meters. For this, the navigation channel will be extended from 150 to 215 meters and the depth will be increased from 8 to 10 meters. The current basin of rotation will increase from 355 to 500 meters in diameter, and a second basin will be born for cruises to maneuver, in the port, initially with 350 meters in diameter, but also expanding to 500 in the future.
“Throughout the process, we were never contacted by APA [Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente] or PHC. I mean, it’s the question of the giraffe, even if I want to make the hole, at least I have to talk to the tenants, right? ”, Asks the mayor, who says he was only informed of the EIA public consultation“ in the last July, when the procedure ended 10 days later, on August 11th ”. And, in view of what is expected, he sees no advantage for the parish. “They say they will deposit part of the dredged sand on the beaches of Molhe and Pintadinho [ambas em Ferragudo]. At the end of the 90’s, they did this, at Angrinha beach, and ended that area. We don’t want dredges on our beaches, ”he says. “There are rainwater drainage lines that will disappear,” continues Luís Veríssimo, and the floods in the lower area of Ferragudo “will become a problem in periods when greater rainfall coincides with the high tide”.
“There is also the marina at Ferragudo, which is in court but is not abandoned. With this work, the marina is no longer viable ”, recalls the president of the Board. The construction of the Ferragudo marina was announced in 2008 by a private investor, but the project has made little progress, and in 2018 the license was revoked because the works had not started in due time. The investor contested and the final decision is not yet known.
Contacted by Expresso, APA states that “the Environmental Impact Assessment procedure [AIA] is currently under evaluation ”, guaranteeing that“ the technical questions posed […] will be themes considered in the ongoing evaluation ”. The “compatibility of this project with existing or planned others will also be an aspect to be considered in the ongoing technical analysis”. The APA also ensures that “a public consultation period of 30 working days, which took place from July 1 to August 11,” was carried out, as is the case for all EIA processes ”, and adds that,“ in this context, the City Councils of Portimão and Lagoa were contacted ”, by mail and e-mail,“ on June 30, 2020 ”. Also “the Parish Councils of Ferragudo and Portimão were contacted by sending a letter via e-mail”, says APA.
Who does not conform is Luís Veríssimo, who is accompanied in criticism of the project by the Câmara de Lagoa and also by popular people. A public petition created in the meantime against the work – which highlights the problem of pollution caused by cruises – currently has more than 1100 signatures.
The Evaluation Committee, appointed by APA and composed of several entities to monitor and analyze this process, has until September 24 to comment.
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