The Regional Secretary for Finance announced this Wednesday in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira (ALM) that the Region will sell ‘Fábrica das Moscas (Fly Factory),’ in Camacha, and concession the marine microalgae production unit for the production of biofuel, in Porto Santo.
Together for the People (JPP) says it is not surprised by these decisions.
Responding to this the JPP said:
“First, squandering public money is not exactly a novelty in PSD governments; secondly, to hide their failures and try to blame them on the opposition, which is what they have always done; Thirdly, when they have to make decisions to correct their own mistakes, they are late and badly planned and therefore they continue to squander taxpayers money.
This is a long-awaited outcome, as a result of the total failure of both projects built with public money. It should be remembered that both the “Fly Factory” and the microalgae unit have long been included in the list of “useless works” or “invented works.”
As for the “Fly Factory,” the JPP wants to know who authorised the dismantling of the facility over the last few years and what is the expected value of the sale?”
The Court of Auditors itself had already handed down a “death sentence” to the marine microalgae project in 2021. However, the Regional Government decided to prolong the financial agony and did not listen to either the JPP or any other party or entity.
In their 2021 audit, the Court of Auditors recommended to the members of the boards of directors of EEM-Biotecnologia, SA and Empresa de Eletricidade da Madeira, SA, as well as to the Regional Government, “concrete and global actions” to stop the annual losses of 4 million euros, over the 15 years of existence, equating to 60 million euros in loose.
Only after this report, the chairman of the Board of Directors of EEM, Francisco Taboada acknowledged, in a parliamentary hearing at ALM, that the project had failed.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
