Residents of a small village near Silves and a group of investors looking to build a rural tourism resort have attacked national power company REN for making changes to a new route for high tension power lines.
They claim that Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN) has reneged on an agreement reached at a previous public consultation about the proposed Portimão and Tunes route.
The lines were originally going to pass less than a kilometre from the National Breeding Centre for the Iberian Lynx at the Herdade das Santinhas and after objection from Águas do Algarve, which is responsible for the centre, it was shifted further north.
This new route would see them pass within 200 metres of homes in the village of Funcho, along the Funcho dam and across the area where the new resort is planned.
This, according to residents, is contrary to the plan agreed at the last public consultation.
One of the investors of the group Funcho Village, which is mainly comprised of British people, said: “We have invested one million euros to purchase land in the village of Funcho. We want to promote a project of rural tourism, with hotel, water sports, recovery of regional products (medronho and honey) and a dry ski slope.”
The project, said to be worth a total of 15 million euros, would have environmentally friendly homes using alternative energy sources and create between 30 to 40 direct jobs and 100 indirect jobs.
This, she claims, is now under threat because of the new change of route.
The investor added that “a very high voltage line near a hotel is not very attractive for the potential tourists who would visit our complex”.
The project was placed for public consultation in December 2008, with changes that included a new route for the power lines.
But as it passed along the boundaries of the National Breeding Centre for the Iberian Lynx, Águas do Algarve maintained that the lines should be diverted as the centre was jeopardised by the “negative effects of electromagnetic fields of the high tension line”.
Funcho residents claim that the Iberian lynx centre has been made a priority and that people who live in the area have been forgotten and that the construction of a new tourist development of “great value” is in danger.
Mayor of Silves Isabel Soares has said that the council will support the residents: “I suggested they wrote a letter explaining the reasons for the discontentment. We also do not agree with these changes.”
A spokesman for Silves Câmara told the Algarve Resident that “no reason for this new change has been made by REN. Silves municipality is not happy with the new changes of the project”.
The Algarve Resident contacted REN for a comment. A spokesman said: “These changes are not final. The project is up for public consultation and will not progress until everyone agrees with it. It is not REN that has the final say but Portugal’s environmental agency, APA.”
An APA spokesman said: “This project is undergoing an environmental impact evaluation. After completion of the public consultation period, the Secretary of State for Environment is expected to make his final decision.”
The residents and investors have set up an online petition, which can be viewed at http://www.peticaopublica.com/PeticaoVer.aspx?pi=P2010N1862 (only in Portuguese).
Public consultation of the project is until May 20 at Silves Câmara.
Paulo Silvestre
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