“Urgent! Hundreds/ thousands of cockroaches have appeared in Parque das Nações (near the Ecrã building). They’re going into the shops, climbing into apartments…!”
This was just one of the messages on a Facebook group called “Lisboa – Higiene Urbana” (Lisbon, Urban Hygiene) which is successfully outing the filthiest sights of the capital in the hope that the council starts to clean them up.
Various people responding to the panicked post pointed out that Parque das Nações isn’t the only trouble-spot.
“Lisbon is filthy, the cockroaches are everywhere!” Said one.
A resident of Penha da França says it’s not only cockroaches – but “rats the size of rabbits” that people are now having to contend with.
As it is designed for interaction with the council, “Lisboa – Higiene Urbana” sees fairly rapid responses from the ‘Câmara Municipal de Lisboa’. This has assured its followers that “clean-up interventions” are being done far and wide “to clear cockroaches from the city”.
Very few readers seem to be impressed, however.
Expresso has discovered that since May the number of complaints about filth, bugs and rampaging rodents “have skyrocketed”.
However the paper says that after “analysing data”, it can see that cockroach plagues are “quite normal at this time of year” – and complaints invariably ‘skyrocket’ from May.
“The hot months see complaints from residents increase exponentially”, says the text. Two years ago, for example, the council received 2,283 complaints. This year, the number is down to 1,237.
In other words, the council may be winning its war on filth – just not as quickly as some residents would like.
The bottom line, however, is that the council has identified the areas “most propitious to the appearance of this plague” and is “acting accordingly”.
The image above is of a council intervention into the drains.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
