The councilor of ‘Mais Porto Santo’ today voted against the 700 thousand euro bank loan to help pay for essential repair work to the islands roads as proposed by the Porto Santo City Council.
Mais Porto Santo regrets that ‘the municipality’ did not have 700 thousand euros to help families and local companies during the height of the pandemic but can now consider taking out a loan to fund the repair of roads, damage that has been caused by third party organisations such as the water board.
As such, the reasons for their ‘vote against’ the proposed loan takes into account the following factors.
- The proposal to open a loan procedure for the satisfaction of financing needs was subject to the appreciation of the Chamber meeting, for investment by the Municipality of Porto Santo, up to a maximum amount of 700,000 euros;
- According to the proposals authors, the loan is intended to fund the repair and repaving of roads and pavements in the municipality of Porto Santo;
- The bank contract term is 20 years with a grace period of 18 months;
- The Municipality already has outstanding financial responsibilities through earlier financing arrangements for a total of 1,785,287.76 euros as at 30 June 2020;
- The Porto Santo Municipality Credit Liability map issued by Banco de Portugal on 30 June 2020 reveals a value of € 2,564,694.47;
- A huge effort has been made to financially rebalance the Municipality’s accounts in recent years,and this work cannot be abandoned;
- There is nothing in the List of Roads undergoing remedial work showing the cost of the work;
- Many of the roads highlighted for improvement works are already being repaired by third parties such as ARM and electricity and telecommunication agencies, who are responsible for returning roads to their original condition once work has been completed;
- In September or October 2021 Local Elections local elections are expected to be held;
- In the context of helping to face the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mais Porto Santo has, in the last 4 months, made proposals for the Municipality of Porto Santo to help local businesses and families, if necessary by resorting to bank loans or becoming the co-promoter of a micro-credit line; these ideas were rejected;
- Their rejected proposal’s included the creation of a “training scholarship”, whose name could be “Municipal Training and Occupation Programme in Work Context” or “Training and Occupation Program in Work Context”, to support unemployed and seasonal workers who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
According to the statement sent to the newsrooms, the councilor of Mais Porto Santo “had no alternative’ but to vote against the town councils proposal.
Samantha Gannon
Info at madeira-weekly.com
