“The project initially had a certain expected value and we know, it will be between 106 and 108 million [euros]. The two proposals presented were in that order of these values, which means that another 50 million [euros] are needed to finance 100% of this investment”, said the mayor of Olhão.

According to the public procurement platform AcinGov, consulted by Lusa on July 16, four companies had competed by the end of the competition on July 7, but only two had submitted bids below the 108 million euros, the limit indicated by Águas do Algarve. Aquapor, which joined forces with the Spanish group GS Inima, submitted a total bid of 107.92 million euros, while Transwater and Cimontubo, which joined forces with the Spanish company Tedagua, which belongs to the Cobra group, submitted 106.97 million.

The desalination plant will have an initial capacity of 16 cubic hectometres to convert seawater into drinking water and will be financed under the PRR with an investment of around 50 million euros.

António Miguel Pina considered that the missing amount could come “either from the State Budget or from the allocation of funds from the RRP” and that the Government could use funds from other projects “that will not be able to be executed within the deadline”.

The president of AMAL expressed concern about the possibility of Águas do Algarve, the promoter of the project, passing on the cost of the desalination plant in water bills and, in that case, directly to consumers, if it had to use its own funds.

“That is the question we are going to ask Águas do Algarve, if it had to finance with its own funds and go into debt, what impact would that have on the tariff? That figure has never been presented by Águas do Algarve”, he stressed.

“Rethink”

Arguing that the Government should rethink the issue because that “is fair to the people of the Algarve”, the president of AMAL considered that there was “a misunderstanding” by the governments regarding “the supposed wealth of the people of the Algarve”.

“We cannot always be the ones who contribute positively to the State Budget, but then the State’s investments in the Algarve are far below our contribution”, he stressed.

The president of AMAL also highlighted that “the Algarve has a waste management problem”, referring to ALGAR, a company that collects and treats waste in the region.

“In the summer, you see many uncollected bins of plastic, glass, and cardboard. This problem has worsened with the privatisation [of the company] and the proposal of the municipalities – already in the previous Government and we will also reinforce it with this one – is that we can assume more responsibilities in this area and to this end we can count on the capacity to finance new trucks for collecting specialised waste, which could replace ALGAR”, added the mayor.