The Government believes that it will be able to fulfil the plan to build the 26,000 homes foreseen in the Recovery and Resilience Plan. In a speech after the signing of the agreements with the municipalities of the Lisbon region and the Tagus Valley to this end, the Prime Minister regretted the delays he inherited from the previous Executive and promised to speed up the entire process.
“The challenge is enormous and extremely demanding. I am perfectly aware that only your maximum effort and commitment [dos autarcas] “We can help overcome this short period of time. Regardless of the Government or municipal executive, I am sure that we all have the same interest: not to waste this great opportunity that we have before us,” Montenegro said.
This ceremony takes place after the Council of Ministers approved a resolution on Friday authorising the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute to increase the national allocation by 400 million euros. This amount is in addition to the extraordinary 390 million euros approved by the previous government, which are added to the 1.4 billion euros provided for in the Housing PRR.
Furthermore, the Government and the municipalities reached an agreement on the period of responsibility. In practice, as Luís Montenegro explained, local authorities now assume responsibility for assessing housing applications and projects, reversing a process that, until now, was in the hands of the Central Administration, through the Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation, which was responsible for analysing the projects and detecting non-conformities.
The solution of the chambers that sign a liability period aims to overcome the limitations caused by the procedures for analyzing applications for the construction of housing within the framework of the PRR and that could make it difficult to comply with the deadlines established in the program.
This time, local authorities are taking responsibility for assessing the projects and implementing them. If it turns out that the project has any non-compliance or that there are adjustments to the compensation value by the IHRU, the chambers will be held liable.
The event served as a venue for the Government to sign an agreement with local authorities in 14 municipalities in Lisbon and Vale do Tajo to build and rehabilitate 4,130 homes for the most needy families, for a value of 400 million euros. At the same ceremony, agreements were also signed with the municipalities of Fafe, Guimarães, Lamego and Matosinhos, increasing the number of homes in the North region to 1,450, under the same measure.
According to information provided by the Government, more than 300 contracts and terms of liability have already been signed with local authorities for the construction and renovation of housing, for a total value of around 720 million euros.
Source: Observadora
