As recently reported, the Municipality of Santa Cruz wants to manage the water supply to the Madeira International Airport, and will proceed with a lawsuit to remove the competence of the current public supplier.
In a statement, lawyer, Miguel Santos Pereira, said:
“First of all we will write to ARM [Waters and Waste of Madeira] and the Regional Government so that the current legislation is reversed, and allows the municipality to proceed with the airport’s water supply and waste removal services.”
“If there is no response within the legal deadline, or if there is a negative response, we will proceed with the lawsuit, and, in this case, it will be before the summer,” warned Miguel Santos Pereira.
The water supply to the Madeira International Airport is currently managed by ARM – Waters and Waste of Madeira, following a decision by the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), that was taken at a time when the municipality could not provide this type of service.
The Municipality of Santa Cruz has invested 170 thousand euros in improving the water network infrastructure to the reservoir that supplies the airport, meaning they can now manage the supply within its services.
This lawsuit is a byproduct of the decision made last most by the Administrative and Fiscal Court of Funchal that ordered the Government of Madeira to register the International Airport of Madeira as a commercial property within the municipality. This situation may force the concessionaire, Vinci, to pay Municipal Property Tax (IMI), from which it is currently exempt.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
