The mayor of Almada stated this Thursday that “in some cases” the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) “was a curse”, a position shared by the Housing Councilor of the Lisbon City Council, who stated that “it is hell.”
“In some cases, for all the projects that were already underway, it was great. In some cases, the PRR was a curse. And it’s good to start telling things like they are: it’s a lot of money to spend in a very short time. The practical result was only one: the market exploded“said the mayor of Almada, Inês de Medeiros (PS).
The mayor spoke at a meeting on housing in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA) “Challenges that need solutions”, which took place in Cascais, Lisbon district.
“It wasn’t just state entities that imploded. The Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU). […] The cameras never manage to implode. The cameras, of all political forces, rain or shine, this or that happens, we never implode, but the State implodes,” declared Inês de Medeiros.
The mayor of Almada said that, within the scope of the PRR, the municipality was left with “very serious problems”, moving forward with the projects, but with unanswered requests, and “even worse” is the market situation, including electricity prices. construction.
“The market is saturated, because there are RRPs everywhere, throughout Europe”he explained, pointing out that the Almada Chamber presented a project for 12 million euros and the estimate is now 24 million, criticizing the bureaucracy and the delay in responding to requests.
Inês de Medeiros, who is also vice-president of the Lisbon Metropolitan Council, stated that the 18 municipalities of the AML “are absolutely available” to establish response strategies to the real estate crisis, as was achieved in the field of public transport.
“But we have to be clear, there has to be a clear commitment from the State […). Já não quero saber quem é o primeiro-ministro ou ministro, ou há uma reforma profunda das entidades intermédias do Estado, seja ao nível da Segurança Social, entidades licenciadoras, APA, ICNF, gestão do território, tudo, ou há uma reforma profunda e começa a haver a responsabilização por estas entidades […]” or “it is impossible” for municipalities to collaborate in responding to the problems, he warned.
The mayor of Almada gave the example of a project that received a negative opinion from the ICNF, because the institute recalled an order from King D. Carlos, which determined that the Costa de Caparica was subject to the forestry regime, but the municipal services verified that it was not There is a subsequent order, signed by António Oliveira Salazar, that disqualifies the previous deliberation.
Defending the revision of the legislation on territorial management instruments, Inês de Medeiros considered that Bureaucracy is “the biggest promoter of corruption”calling for more transparency, clarity and speed, and pointing out that “private partners are needed to provide a medium-long term response in housing.”
The councilor of the Lisbon City Council, Filipa Roseta (PSD), also stated that the implementation part of the PRR “failed”, pointing out that the municipality discovered that “they no longer pay for the urbanization works” and only cover the housing part: “ “All this is hell.”
“It is hell of the paragraph and nobody understands […] “There is an execution failure here that could put the program at risk,” he explained, praising the work of Ana Pinho (who was also present at the meeting), former Secretary of State for Housing, who in 2019 took on the challenge for the municipalities. Prepare Local Housing Strategies.
Also participating in the debate was the rector of the University of Lisbon, Luís Ferreira, who said that the institution’s first student residences began to be built with their own funds, but “when the PRR appeared it was an extraordinary boost, it allowed us to take advantage of a series of works”, going “from 1,300 beds to 2,7000 in 2026”.
“We can build the residence, but if we are building in a place where we are required to have parking, which is the specific case I am talking about, the parking part is not financed at all by the PRR,” said the rector.
Luís Ferreira also called for the reduction of bureaucracy at the local level in the granting of urban planning licenses, indicating that he had to stop the work on 300 rooms, because the project had not included parking for three bicycles.
The AML is made up of 18 municipalities on the north and south banks of the Tagus River, namely Alcochete, Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisboa, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Palmela, Seixal, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira.
Source: Observadora
