The Regional Government is committed to following what it says is the “popular will” and ensuring the construction of a “new attractiveness” for Curral das Freiras, stressed Rafaela Fernandes to local newspaper, JM. The President praises the cable car’s positive impact on the local economy and reveals that steps are underway from the point of view of spatial planning. With the suspension of the PDM, the order is to speed up the execution of the project.
Responding to this the president of Curral das Freiras recognises that the fact that the Curral das Freiras cable car is moving forward is “good news for the parish,” but defends the need to think of quick responses to the affluence that the investment will bring, so as not to hinder the daily lives of the local population.
Manuel Salustino Jesus, who was then reacting to today’s headline in the newspaper, stresses that the development project is, in fact, in line with his beliefs for the rural and economic growth of the locality, however now the concern is to “prepare” Curral das Freiras for what is to come, with the construction of new infrastructures.
“You can’t run the risk of having the cable car ready and that it will be in operation within a year and a year and a half, probably, and that Curral das Freiras will be filled with tourists and that it will become a hindrance to the resident’s daily life. The Regional Government and the Câmara de Lobos City Council must give answers to what the cable car will bring”, he advocates.
The Mayor lists, in this sense, a list of works that must be carried out to meet the expected demand, namely to create more parking areas in the centre of the parish; start the widening of the Eira do Serrado Road that connects us to Santo António to the parish; widen the existing road right at the entrance to the parish and design the connection to Jardim da Serra “as soon as possible.”
“Because without this public investment accompanying this private investment in the cable car, it is an asset for the parish, but it will garrote to what is the daily life of this parish if we fail to prepare adequately for a greater influx of tourists,” he warns, assuring that the Junta is attentive to the execution of these “very important” works.
“It’s important that everyone assumes their role. The investor, who has already invested 8 million euros, has already played his role, now it is important for us, rulers, to play our role, which is to provide a follow-up response to an investment of this volume,” he concluded.
However, not everyone is happy with the news.
In a statement, the ADN is against the construction of a cable car in Curral das Freiras. The coordinator of the party in Madeira recalls that “he has already publicly spoken out several times against the construction of a cable car in Curral das Freiras and today he reinforces this position in the face of the Regional Government’s intention to move forward with this project because it is the “will of the people,” according to the words of the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Environment.”
The ADN considers that the “will of the people” is manifested “through the vote in democratic elections and referendums, and the election of the PSD-Madeira on the 26th of May 2024 does not legitimize the current Executive for such a will and much more, have the people who live there actually been asked about how they feel about the project, or is the government assuming that they will be seduced by the glitter of the project and not realise how it will impact on their daily lives?”
Miguel Pita stresses that “the hasty suspension of the PDM in the parish of Curral das Freiras, known worldwide for its landscapes of great natural wealth, is a decision that should not be taken lightly, because in addition to the implementation of the cable car disfiguring this protected area, it endangers the habitat of several species that nest there.”
“Even if there were such a ‘will of the people’, as justified by the Regional Government, the approximately 2,000 inhabitants of Curral das Freitas have no power or legitimacy to make this type of decision, as the Autonomous Region of Madeira has more than 250,000 inhabitants who also have a say on this issue”.
Thus, concludes the party coordinator, “the DNA warns of the delicate precedent that this ‘will of the people’ may cause, as it legitimises that in the future any other parish of the Autonomous Region of Madeira may also have projects foisted on them that are said to be the ‘will of the people.’
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
