“We have identified this issue for a long time as a very great injustice, because there are beneficiaries 100 metres apart from each other, and some pay, and others do not”, so “when it is resolved, we will be very satisfied”, he said.

The head of the Alqueva Development and Infrastructure Company (EDIA) was speaking to the Lusa news agency after the Environment Minister announced, that this payment should be included in the agreement to be signed between the two countries, in September.

According to Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho, the amount to be paid by Spain will be two million euros per year.

In his statements to Lusa, the president of EDIA explained that beneficiaries on the Portuguese side pay for the water they collect from the Alqueva dam, unlike farmers with water collection points on the Spanish side, who do not have to pay anything.

“Even before we built the Alqueva dam, we knew that there were water collection points on the Guadiana River and some that would benefit from the construction of the dam. These are the ones who have the obligation to pay”, he stressed.

As for the two million euros to be paid annually by Spain, José Pedro Salema stressed that the amount was determined through the direct application of the Alqueva Multipurpose Project (EFMA) tariff.

“Spanish water collection points will pay the same as Portuguese water collection points”, stressed the official.

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