Rogério Bacalhau to be named chairman of Águas do Algarve’s board of directors
Rogério Bacalhau is stepping down as mayor of Faro to take the top job at regional water company Águas do Algarve (AdA).
Speaking to Lusa news agency on Monday, Bacalhau confirmed his transition from local mayor to chairman of the company’s board of directors is due to take place on January 13 when AdA’s general assembly will take place.
The mayor said his election as chairman “is essentially guaranteed,” as his name was proposed by Águas de Portugal, the majority shareholder, which holds equity alongside the 16 municipalities of the Algarve region.
Bacalhau will take over the role held by António Eusébio, another former mayor who served three terms in São Brás de Alportel before taking the top job at AdA.
Currently serving his last term as mayor of Faro for Social Democratic Party, PSD, Bacalhau is due to be replaced by deputy mayor Paulo Santos, who has already confirmed he is ready to take over following the dismissal in September of a corruption probe in which he was suspected of crimes of “passive and active corruption, embezzlement, prevarication and abuse of power”.
Bacalhau’s departure will see further changes within the municipal administration, with Henrique Gomes, the current administrator of municipal company Ambifaro, poised to be appointed as a councillor.
Rogério Bacalhau was first elected mayor of Faro in 2013, having won the two following local elections, including the most recent in 2021 which would have kept him in office until this September’s upcoming local elections.
He is now set to follow in the footsteps of Isabel Soares, a former mayor of Silves, who also stepped down to take up the same position in 2012.
Bacalhau is the third mayor of an Algarve municipality to step down in the last year in favour of what seem to be, on paper, more attractive career opportunities. In April 2024, Alcoutim mayor Osvaldo Gonçalves left his position to become the new administrator of Algar, the region’s waste management company. Later in June 2024, Isilda Gomes also ended her third term as Portimão mayor early after being elected a European MP for the Socialist Party (PS).
