The government is transferring 25 vacant state-owned properties to the management of 19 municipalities, with an investment of €13.5 million for their refurbishment.
The properties were previously used in sectors including the economy, tourism, housing, education, social action, culture and agriculture and forestry.
Says a statement released today: “In the municipality of Sintra, one of the properties covered is the former Sintra 3 Tax Office, where a Training and Citizenship Centre aimed at the most vulnerable members of the public will be created.”
Arcos de Valdevez, Arganil, Bragança, Castro Verde, Chaves, Figueira da Foz, Fornos de Algodres, Lisbon, Mangualde, Mira, Mogadouro, São Brás de Alportel in the Algarve, Sintra, Tomar, Torre de Moncorvo, Viana do Castelo, Vila do Conde, Vila Nova da Barquinha and Vila Pouca de Aguiar are the municipalities that will be receiving these buildings.
The agreements will be signed this afternoon at Queluz Palace in Sintra in the presence of the Secretary of State for the Treasury and Finance, João Silva Lopes, and Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, among others.
The government’s intention to redistribute buildings that it no longer has uses for – particularly to help the housing crisis – was spelled out earlier this year by prime minister Luís Montenegro.
In the meantime, groups have been forming over the years on social networks to draw attention to the sheer quantity of real estate left crumbling by the state – so much of which could, conceivably, be used to try and tackle the dearth of affordable properties for working people to live in.
Source: LUSA
