A 1.2 million euro project underway in Pinhão is rehabilitating the main street of the tourist village of Douro, in the municipality of Alijó, and was pointed out on Monday as a “good example” of the application of community funds.
This urban regeneration project in Pinhão has financing from Norte 2020 in the order of one million euros and was visited by members of the parliamentary subcommittee for monitoring community funds and the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
The objective of this field trip is, according to Nuno Fazenda, president of the subcommittee, proximity, seeing specific projects, meeting the promoters and evaluating the impact of European funds on the territories.
This, which has been the first visit within the framework of the “European Funds and PRR” itinerary, carried out within the framework of the “Closest Parliament” initiative, began in the municipality of Alijó, in the district of Vila Real, and ended in Porto.
Nuno Fazenda stressed that the aim is “to see what went well” and also “what is there and what to improve”.
In Pinhão, 76% of the works have been completed and are expected to be completed in January 2023. However, the ongoing project is only the first phase of a larger project planned for the tourist village located along the river. Douro.
This phase foresees the recovery of this entire area of Rua António Manuel Saraiva with the creation of spaces for people to enjoy, the improvement of a part of the parking lot that had to do with buses and the creation of a parking lot at the end of the wharf Also create the conditions for waste collection, a shading pergola that will create a change in the appearance of this area, also creating an important protection zone for the station, for the tiles”, explained the deputy mayor of Alijó, Vítor Ferreira .
In summer and especially at harvest time, high season for tourism in this region, numerous tourist buses and vehicles that transport grapes and musts cross this street, a situation that creates significant road limitations in this town.
This intervention had been demanded for a long time by the population and businessmen of Pinhão.
Nuno Fazenda said that, when starting the route through the interior, the aim was to highlight the “impact of the projects financed by community funds for territorial cohesion”.
Also in the municipality of Alijó, the subcommittee, which includes deputies from all the parties with parliamentary seats, visited the Adega Cooperativa de Favaios, which has some 550 associated winegrowers and a turnover of some 14 million euros, and then visited the Quinta do Vallado, in Peso da Régua, before heading to Porto.
And it is this proximity that we want to have in the territory. A parliament that is closer to companies, institutions and projects co-financed with community funds”, highlighted Nuno Fazenda.
The president of the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of the North (CCDR-N), António Cunha, accompanied the deputies and explained that the projects visited were selected “because of their diversity, from larger to smaller projects, financed by different funds, from the PRD, agriculture funds to Compete, for Tourism Funds and North 2030”.
“They are good examples of the application of these funds. The funds are very important for regional development. They are being applied and they are certainly, in many cases, promoting a transformation, whether in the urban space like the one we see here, or in the production capacity in the field of wine, or in other aspects that we will see during the afternoon, in Porto, such as the Bolhão market or projects associated with the subway”, he highlighted.
Finally, when asked about some criticism of the execution of the PRR, Nuno Fazenda pointed out that “more than 60% of the PRR is launched in public tenders and announcements”, he also added that “43% of the PRR is already approved” and recalled that “the Commission of the European Union positively valued the first request for payment presented by the Portuguese State” and that “the presentation of the second request for payment will be forthcoming”.
“We will wait, but I am convinced that Portugal, due to its track record of good application of European funds, will also have a positive evaluation in this area, as it has been receiving from European entities, namely the European Commission”, he underlined. . .
Source: Observadora
