By INÊS LOPES ines.lopes@algarveresident.com
Calls by thousands of people from around the world for government intervention in the Salgados Saga have finally been heard. Assessment of the impact a large scale tourist development will have on the area’s environment has been deemed ‘important’.
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) ‘is not mandatory’ in this case. However, the government has requested the views of the Portuguese Environmental Agency (APA) concerning the Praia Grande project, planned to be built on the grounds surrounding Salgados Lagoon in Pêra, to an EIA.
The decision follows the launch of complaints to the European Commission by environmental associations which oppose the Portuguese government’s decision to approve such a project near ‘a natural lagoon that is home to so many animal species’.
In a statement, the Secretary of State for the Environment and Land Planning, Pedro Afonso de Paulo, said he considered it crucial to analyse the impact of the project on the surrounding areas, “although an EIA is not mandatory”.
This is explained because the project falls under the guidelines of a management plan for the Praia Grande area dating back to 2008 – the Plano de Pormenor da Subunidade Operativa de Planeamento e Gestão II da Praia Grande. The EU’s Directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment, in force since 2001, had at that time not been brought into national law in Portugal.
Besides that, the development project is not in breach of the EU’s Birds and Habitats Directives, as the grounds on which it will be built and neighbouring Lagoa dos Salgados do not have a protected status for its natural environment and animal life.
Various environmental organisations have over the years called for the Lagoa dos Salgados to be classified as a protected zone, something the Portuguese Institute for Nature and Forests Conservation has dismissed as ‘unfounded’.
Now the government appears to be reacting to the voices of protest that have sounded from all corners of the world via an online petition (Protect Salgados for the Future), and which has so far garnered more than 17,000 signatures.
The Secretary of State said: “An EIA is an important, preventative tool to ensure the environmental sustainability of areas and the effective management of natural resources through the impact assessment of a project – hence the government’s decision to request the views of APA.”
The Praia Grande project, being developed by the Galilei Group and its Algarve subsidiary Finalgarve, is expected to create 416 direct jobs and 1,100 indirect jobs in its first stage. However, many are opposing the project claiming that the unspoilt coastal area, which is a bird sanctuary recognised all over the world, is now threatened by the construction of three hotels, five holiday villages, shopping complexes and an 18-hole golf course.
|| Protest on October 20
A group entitled ‘Friends of the Salgados Lagoon’ has organised a protest against the construction of the €232 million tourist development, to take place tomorrow (Saturday) in the car park of Praia Grande, by the Duna Café, from 3pm until 6pm.
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