The municipalities most affected by the rural fires this year will be able to submit applications to the Municipal Emergency Fund for the repair of public infrastructures, with the State Budget providing a total “indicative” allocation of six million euros.
According to the resolution of the Council of Ministers that approves the measures to face the damage caused by forest fires, published this Tuesday in the Diário da República, the six municipalities of the Serra da Estrela Natural Park were affected by a large fire in August. (Celorico da Beira, Covilhã, Gouveia, Guarda, Manteigas and Seia) and all municipalities with accumulated burned area, this year, equal to or greater than 4,500 hectares or 10% of its area.
All these the municipalities are considered “exceptional and especially affected”a situation that, the executive reiterates in the diploma, “requires the application of extraordinary action and support measures, whether immediate or conjunctural […]or aimed at increasing the resilience and competitiveness of the territories”.
Among the short-term measures, “with implementation beginning at the end of 2022”, is the opening of applications for the Municipal Emergency Fund to “support the replacement and repair of municipal public infrastructure and support equipment for populations destroyed by fires. ”.
The Government has defined, for this purpose, “an indicative budget allocation of 6,000,000 euros, of which 3,000,000 refer to 2022 and 3,000,000 to 2023, which will be allocated through the General State Budgets” .
Roads or basic sanitation infrastructure are examples of facilities managed by municipalities.
The diploma published this Tuesday also provides for measures in the areas of the environment, the economy, civil protection, housing and support for families and businesses.
In addition to the temporary initiatives that should start at the end of this year, the Government has stipulated others that can start until June of next year, in these cases covering all the municipalities of the Intermunicipal Community of Beiras and Serra da Estrela.
António Costa’s executive had already announced on September 15 the approval of measures worth 200 million euros for the municipalities most affected by rural fires.
According to the statement issued at the end of the Council of Ministers, are eligible for this criterion the municipalities of Carrazeda de Ansiães (Braganza), Mesão Frio (Vila Real), Murça (Vila Real), Vila Real, Albergaria-a-Velha (Aveiro), Alvaiázere (Leiria), Ansião (Leiria) and Ourém (Santarém).
Subsequently, the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, announced that 40% to 50% of the funds from the 200 million package would be invested in Serra da Estrela.
Ana Abrunhosa pointed out that this amount does not include the Serra da Estrela Revitalization Plan, which will be implemented after June 2023.
Serra da Estrela was affected by a large fire that broke out on August 6 in the municipality of Covilhã (Castelo Branco district) and lasted more than ten days, spreading to the district of Guarda, in the municipalities of Manteigas, Gouveia, Guarda and Celorico da Beira, and also to the municipality of Belmonte, also in Castelo Branco.
About a quarter of the area of the natural park was destroyed, for which the Government approved the declaration of a calamity situation for the area, which will be in force for a year, with “the purpose of restoring normality in the respective area geographical”.
Source: Observadora
