The Algarve Situation Report 23 November 2022
by Mike Evans
Good day to you all, since the last report we have seen a dramatic change in the weather here in the Algarve with cooler days and rain. However, despite the rain a recent report from the IMPA shows that the Algarve continues to experience meteorological drought, but with a decrease in intensity, now being in the moderate drought class.
We can only hope that the usual rains we experience over the next few months will help fill up the reservoirs.
Now a look at some of the other stories that have been happening in the region.
Rail Plan with two high-speed alternatives in the Algarve
The National Railway Plan, which was launched on Thursday, November 17th, for public discussion, is studying two high-speed alternatives for the Algarve region that intend to compete with the plane and the car.
The plan is looking at the possibility of modernising the existing line to reduce the journey by about 30 minutes or the construction of a new axis that includes Évora, Beja or Faro, with the journey time between Lisbon and Faro becoming less than two hours.
With regard to freight transport, new international corridors are planned through the Algarve and Trás-os-Montes, in addition to a pilot corridor for longer trains (1,500 metres) between Sines and the border. This plan foresees the high-speed line serving the 10 largest cities in the country, as well as several connections to Spain.
“At the end of all this, we would have high-speed service serving the 10 largest cities in the country”, said the coordinator of the working group responsible for the National Railway Plan (PFN), Frederico Francisco, presented at the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC), in Lisbon.
The PFN also foresees “several connections to Spain, from all over the territory”, pointed out the official, thus competing with the plane and the car.
Largest nativity scene in the country celebrates 20 years
The largest nativity scene in the country is back at the António Aleixo Cultural Centre, in Vila Real de Santo António, between December 1st and January 8th, announced the municipality.
In the year it celebrates its 20th anniversary, this nativity scene grows again, now occupying an area of 240 square metres and more than five thousand pieces. This year’s edition continues to break records, with the presence of 5700 pieces that occupy the entire exhibition area of the António Aleixo Cultural Centre, many of them made from scratch and others that reach a value of several hundred euros.
The construction of the nativity scene took more than 40 days and 2500 hours of work, since several months ago, using more than 20 tons of sand, four tons of stone dust, 3000 kilos of cork and hundreds of props.
About one hundred pieces are animated and motorised, in addition to the lakes and lighting that are considered the secret of the event, which are on top of a base with kilometres of cables that guarantee the circulation of water, lighting and scenic effects.
The nativity scene also has elements evocative of the region, such as the Praça Marquês de Pombal, the old beach huts of Monte Gordo, the salt pans, the traditional Algarvian waterwheels and other local monuments. Most of the materials are natural or reused, such as cork and moss, focusing on the ecological aspect with the implementation of led lighting systems and reuse of water used in ornamental lakes.
This nativity scene, with the signature of Augusto Rosa, Teresa Marques, Joaquim Soares and António Bartolomeu, can be visited daily between 10:00 am and 1:00 pm and from 2:30 pm to 7:00 pm, with entrances between 0, 50 and 1 euro.
Young people remove invasive plants on the beach of Santo António
Several young people from the municipality of Vila Real de Santo António participated on Sunday, November 20, in an initiative to clean and remove weevils next to the beach of Santo António, announced the Parish Council.
As part of the “Ambienta-te” project, promoted by the Parish Council of Vila Real de Santo António and the Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth, young people removed this invasive plant during the environmental action, with the support of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forestry and Environment Division of the City Council.
Known as beach weevil, this invasive species is easy to find in the dunes and is a creeping, succulent plant.
Faro and Portimão with restrictions on Christmas lighting
The energy crisis is leading municipalities across the country to plan to have Christmas lighting turned on for shorter periods than in other years and to resort more to the use of low-consumption technologies .
In Faro, Christmas lighting will be on for a significantly shorter period than in previous years, starting to work at dusk and being turned off from 00:00, while in 2021 it was on daily from 17:00 to 02:00: 00.
The municipality of Portimão will also reduce this year the period of Christmas lighting by 10 days compared to previous years – turning on the lights between December 6th and January 6th – and by two hours daily.
Like other municipalities, Portimão City Council will also use low-consumption luminaires with LED technology, with the lights being turned off for every two hours of operation.
Faro Camara Systems hacked
The Câmara de Faro announced that it had been the target of a computer attack that affected all of its servers, compromising the normal functioning of the services, which will be gradually resumed in the coming days.
In a statement, the municipality specified that the ‘ransomware’ attack was registered last Saturday, having been reported to the National Cybersecurity Centre, Judiciary Police and the Attorney General’s Office.
The municipality admits that there may be constraints over the next few days in the services, namely in the ‘back office’ system and in the email service, which are currently inactive.
Four of the suspects arrested for drug trafficking are in custody
Four of the 10 suspects arrested for drug trafficking on Tuesday by the Public Security Police in Lagos will be remanded in custody, the Faro District Attorney’s Office announced this Thursday.
The most serious measure of coercion was determined by the Juiz de Instrução Criminal de Portimão to four of the detainees, leaving another five suspects obliged to report periodically to the police authorities and another prohibited from contact with the remaining defendants in the process.
According to a note published on the Attorney General’s website, the suspects, eight men and two women, aged between 21 and 47, are indicted for the crime of drug trafficking. According to the prosecution, one of the detainees, aged 26, had been buying, since August 2017, cocaine, heroin, hashish, marijuana and pastilles (‘MDMA’ and ‘ecstasy’) from another of the detainees, this one aged 47, who later sold to consumers directly or through other elements.
The judicial entity adds that, “also at the indication of the 26-year-old detainee, the rest were responsible for disguising the drugs and money in various hiding places”.
During the searches and searches carried out, the police authorities seized various narcotic products, namely cocaine, heroin, marijuana, hashish and ‘ecstasy’, four weapons and ammunition, material for weighing and packaging the drug and 28 thousand euros. The case was investigated by the Public Security Police of Portimão and Lagos and supervised by the magistrate of the 2nd section of the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) of Portimão.
And to end this report there is news of an additional health centre opening in the Algarve.
Vilamoura has a new private hospital unit
The Lusíadas private health group will install a new hospital unit in Vilamoura, in the Algarve municipality of Loulé, in 2023, with an investment of 10 million euros and the creation of 250 new jobs.
The project presentation ceremony and the signing of the contract between the Lusíadas health group and the administration of the well-known seaside resort took place on the morning of Tuesday, November 22nd, in the former Lusotur building, designed by the architect Francisco Keil do Amaral, where the new hospital will be located, after “rehabilitation and construction” works.
“The Hospital Lusíadas Vilamoura will reinforce the offer of health care in the most extensive and populous municipality in the Algarve and will make a contribution to the socio-economic development of the region, in a lasting and sustainable way”, said the executive president (CEO) of Lusíadas Saúde, Vasco Antunes Pereira. For his part, the mayor of Loulé, Vítor Aleixo, welcomed this “investment in a very high quality tourist area, which joins others already in operation in the area”, and which will benefit the population of the entire municipality. .
“This initiative will also benefit from public and private investments that are planned and being developed in the area of active and healthy ageing. It is about the formation of an ecosystem in the area of the ‘silver economy’ [people over 65 years old], which is a segment with a future and great opportunities”, underlined Vítor Aleixo.
When operating at full capacity, the new unit will be able to perform around 4,500 consultations and 200 outpatient surgeries per month, according to data provided by the health group.“Vilamoura has year-round demand from a ‘less resident’ population and we consider that the [hospital supply, currently,] is insufficient”, said Vasco Antunes Pereira.
According to Lusíadas Saúde, this unit with 1,700 square metres aims to respond to the interests and needs of the population profile “resident and also tourists”, being the first hospital in the south of mainland Portugal “dedicated exclusively to outpatient surgery”.
“In terms of capacity, the unit will include permanent care, more than 20 consultation offices, treatment and examination rooms, operating and minor surgery rooms, a Gastroenterology unit and an Imaging area, equipped with specialised and cutting-edge technological equipment. , such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography (CAT), X-rays, mammography, ultrasound, among others,” according to a statement from the health group.
Last week, the GNR detained a total of 77 people in various operations in the district of Faro, including those aimed at preventing and combating violent crime, road inspection and drug trafficking . According to the report on weekly operational activity released by the Faro Territorial Command of that security force, in police actions, between 17 and 23 October, 26 people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, nine for driving without a legal licence. and 10 for drug trafficking. During that period, 440 traffic violations were detected, 111 for speeding, 53 for lack of mandatory periodic inspection and 31 for signalling and lighting anomalies, 16 for lack of compulsory insurance, 15 for lack or incorrect use of the seat belt and/or child restraint system and 13 for misuse of mobile phone.
Dozens of people gathered on Saturday, October 22, next to the municipal auditorium of Lagoa , to protest against the real estate project approved for a temporary wetland called Alagoas Brancas in that municipality in the district of Faro. The protest action was called by the Portuguese Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity with the aim of “gathering as much support as possible to try to reverse the approval and prevent the project from progressing”.
The survey also aimed to assess the opinion of the Portuguese on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals assumed by the United Nations, but 64% of respondents are unaware of them and only 36%, more educated, said they knew what it was about. When asked about the value they attribute to each of them, on a global scale, the eradication of poverty, zero hunger, health and education are indicated, but at the national level, priority is given to health and well-being (53%), poverty eradication (52%) and quality education (39%). “From then on, and boosted by the covid-19 effect, the issue of health became a major concern in all age groups, whereas in the previous survey [2019] it was already notorious, but it was clearly concentrated among the elderly”, is mentioned in the study coordinated by Luísa Schmidt and Mónica Truninger.
A 37-year-old man suspected of stealing carob and wanted by the authorities to serve an effective prison sentence was detained by the GNR on Tuesday, October 18, in Albufeira , that force announced. The arrest took place following an alert for a carob theft on private property, and the man was located and intercepted off-site, the Faro Territorial Command said in a statement. In the suspect's vehicle, the military detected and seized 325 kilograms of carob, the guard specified.