New Tender for Funchal harbour

The Regional Government has launched a new public tender for Funchal Harbour worth 18 million Euros. The previous tender had to be dropped because all the companies' tenders were too high.

The dock is to be built on the Funchal beachfront in an area which was used by the Government as a temporary landfill for the debris resulting from the 20th of February 2010 flash floods. The Governmet used this as an excuse to use the special package specifically allocated for reconstruction of damaged infrastructures, to embark on a totally new venture. Meanwhile, much of the 20th of Feburary damage remains untouched, needing repair.

A protest against the project led to a 2000 strong demonstration on the landfill sight in 2011. A large part of the Madeira debt and the debts that Jardim hid from the National Government and the Regional Parliament (with the help of the construction companies themselves) are due to Jardim's many mega construcion projects, many of which have no practical use.

Madeira beset by Forest Fires

Several serious forest fires have broken out in Madeira over the last days. Two days ago a large forest fire devasted large areas in Calheta, namely in Ponta do Pargo, Lombo dos Marinheiros.

While the firemen from all over the island were still busy putting out the fire in Calheta, a large fire broke out last night in the Palheiro area of Funchal. This fire has now been extinguished, though there is a danger of the fire rekindling. According to the Funchal Municipality only two or three houses burnt down.

Fires also broke out in Ribeira Brava and Sta Cruz. The fire brigades have been stretched to the limits, combatting fires simultaneously on several fronts. Reinforcements from the mainland are expected.

The weather in Madeira has been extremely hot and dry for the last nine months, with hardly any rainfall, exacerbating the fire hazard. There are suspicions that some of the fires may have started deliberatly.

New road and seawall in Paul do Mar will affect surf spot

From Olhodefogo.blogspot.com August 2011

The Madeiran Government announced the decision to move on with the project of a road and seawall protection on the shoreline in Paul do Mar, from the road leading to the wharf at East until the graveyard area at West. The topic is the security of ninety families living in the area because of the sea advancement, said local newspaper Diário (13.8.2011). It sounds like Jardim do Mar promenade and seawall in Jardim do Mar, part 2. Protecting the houses and keeping intact the surf break is possible. Both goals can be achieved. In front of the surf break there are no houses in danger because of the sea.

As you can check on the picture presented, the new road and seawall (green), go much further out than the existing seawall (red/pink colour) and further West too, passing the graveyard area. This expansion endangers the surf spot in front of the graveyard area as the seawall will be built in the surf break.

The wave in Paul do Mar is very much appreciated for its frequency, regularity, access and it offers intense and extreme surfing experiences. That is why competitions have taken place there. Damaging or destroying it would be a tremendous loss for surf and for the tourism and natural heritage of the island.

How can local authorities defend surf, using its images to promote Madeira as a tourism destination, support surf competitions in that surf spot in Paul do Mar, and at the same time keep destroying the natural conditions for surfing? It's more than enough what has already been damaged and destroyed in other places like Ponta Delgada or Jardim do Mar, just nearby.

However, we are living in a period before elections in October with lots of announcements, without forgetting that in the present economical and social crisis in Portugal, people will have more urgent concerns and needs than concrete seawalls, and we do not know (and if) this construction will be done in the near future. Madeira has no money, as recently announced by its Government. And the situation is not going to change anytime soon.

The construtction project is now on public tender for the estimated price of 7 Million Euros as Diário informs (20.8.2011), and it is funded by the European Union but Madeira has to put in some percentage of that sum. More information soon on this matter.

The public tender was authorized recently (resolution 1134/2011 of Conselho de Governo on the 11th of August, published on the 17th of August in the Oficial Madeira Journal Jornal - Joram). This way the Government "launches" the new road/seawall within the limit of 2011. As Diário says, the «resolution was based in Plano e Programa de Investimentos e Despesas de Desenvolvimento da RAM (PIDDAR) for 2011, in line with PDES - Plano de Desenvolvimento Económico e Social 2007/2013, and also in the Program of Government that started ruling in 2007 and ends now next October. Some years after de first part of Paul do Mar protection, this second part is oficially entitled "Ligação Marginal entre o Cemitério e o Cais do Paul do Mar" (Connection of the coastal road between the Graveyard and Wharf of Paul do Mar.»

In spite of the present economical problems, surfers and citizens in general must be aware and do everything they can to value that surf spot in Paul do Mar and prevent any damage or desctrution.

According to the Government announcement last Thursday (August 11), the goal is to have a 445 meters long road by (actually in) the sea connecting the square area of the graveyard at West with the road that leads to the wharf area at East.

And Government adds: "the new road will have two lines measuring 3.5 meters each one, adding a 1.5 meters sidewallk (South/sea) and 1.2 meters (North/shore). The road will be on a platform conquered to the sea along the shoreline already occupied by houses. Along the new road will be built a seawall and protection from the sea that will be about 500 meters long."

Letter to the EU Commission re: Solidarity Fund Madeira

Johannes Hahn

Commissioner for Regional Policy 

Your Excellency,

The Partido da Nova Democracia, a political party which is represented in the Legislative Parliament of Madeira, having read Your Excellency’s answer to UKIP MEP Nigel Farage’s question to the Commission regarding the EU Solidarity Fund/Madeira (E-11078/10EN), would like to put the following considerations before the Commission.

Your answer states that the Portuguese Government’s application contains ‘all the relevant information’ and that the damage estimates it contained were ‘found to be plausible’, but Mr. Barroso’s Commission evidences the same reticence as the Portuguese Government in sharing any details.

The meager information the Commission has made available raises even greater doubts about the damages claimed by the Regional Government and raises suspicions that the funds made available through the Lei de Meios for reconstruction may be diverted to finance investments that are totally unrelated to the damages caused on the 20^th of February 2010.

Is the Commission aware, for instance, that the Regional Government, without informing the parliament, has unilaterally approved a 40€ million project for part of the Funchal waterfront to be financed through the Lei de Meios as part of the 127€ million attributed to repair coastal infrastructures?

This is NOT a project to repair damage and remove the rock and debris dumped as a temporary landfill on the waterfront, but rather a NEW project to DESTROY the only natural beach in Funchal bay and to build a series of entirely new infrastructures which include new squares, new marinas and a new docking port!

A quick glance at the detailed report, identifying the damage spots and the extent of the damage in each instance, would indeed no doubt be sufficient to assess the plausibility of the damages claimed - if such report was ever drawn up in the first place, which we believe NOT to be the case. Not even members of the Portuguese Parliament have been given access to such a report.

The Commission’s own answer is utterly unconvincing, for though it claims to have been given all the relevant information, from the sloppy nonsense it saw fit to divulge, we can only surmise that this could mean one of two things:

A)     That the information contained in the Commission’s answer is the full extent of the information supplied by the Portuguese Government and that that has been deemed sufficient for the purposes of the EU Solidarity Fund application.

B)      That if there is any real detailed report, Mr. Barroso’s Commission is deliberately withholding the details, with the full knowledge that the figures claimed are unrealistic and that the proposed funding is to be spent on new projects which have nothing to do with the 20^th of February disaster.

Given the evidence of the intended misuse and diversion of disaster funding, we once more request that the Commission, without further ado, make available or consultable ALL the information it has received from the Portuguese Government on the 1080€ Million estimated damages caused by the rainstorm of the 20^th of February.

Please understand that this is an issue very dear to Madeirans, given that this funding may be used to commit the biggest environmental attack ever committed in Madeira - the destruction of the only natural beach in the bay of Funchal.

For this reason, on the 20^th of February 2011, one year after the disaster, over two thousand people formed a human chain on the site of the proposed project, to demand the removal of the landfill and the restoration of the beach. Two thousand people,  who cannot but be considered courageous in defying a 35-year-old regime,  which is successively elected with blatant violations of election laws and which does not hesitate to insult and persecute all those who stand up for their rights or dare to speak their mind.

It is time for Europe give a signal that there are values that higher than money, political conveniences and outright cronyism.

We furthermore add that all information solicited will be sent to the judicial authorities to investigate the eventual illegality of use of national and/or European funding.

Yours sincerely,

Eduardo Welsh,

On behalf of the leadership of the Partido da Nova Democracia

Funchal, 24^rd of February 2011

Petition to stop the money from the Lei de Meios being used to destroy the Bay of Funchal

Your Excellency, the President of the Portuguese Parliament

Following the catastrophic deluge of the 20^th of February 2010, the Government of the Autonomous Region of Madeira created a temporary landfill to the South of the Avenida do Mar, to deposit the debris carried by the three streams which flow into Funchal bay. This temporary landfill remained throughout the whole summer and was increased with further deposits from the rains of the 21^st of October, the 25^th of November, the 20^th of December 2010 and the 20^th of January 2011. What was meant to be a temporary solution turned into a permanent landfill. On the 15^th of February 201, the Government of the Autonomous Region of Madeira announced its intention to resort to the funding provided by the Lei de Meios to build a pier for cruise ships and a marina on the site of the landfill, with an estimated to cost 40 million Euros.

Considering that this is a new work and not a reconstruction of damaged infrastructures;

Considering that the intervention proposed by the Regional Government of Madeira will irreversibly destroy the beach adjacent to the Avenida do Mar.

Considering that, in the event of flooding, the project may further obstruct the flow of the Santa Luzia and João Gomes streams;

Considering that the operation of a pier in open sea will be greatly conditioned in the months of October and November, which are the preferred months for visiting cruise ships;

Considering that the proposed intervention will alter the character of the bay of Funchal, putting its quality as a tourist destination in jeopardy and limiting its use by the local residents;

Considering that the funds made available through the Lei de Meios are to be used prioritarily for urban requalification and to safeguard the population;

The undersigned citizens reject the possibility that the Regional Government of Madeira spend the funding from the Lei de Meios to build new port infrastructures and request that the Portuguese Parliament reanalyze the above-mentioned law to ensure that national solidarity funding be used only to reconstruct those infrastructures damaged by the floods of the 20^th of February 2010.

To sign the petition, please go to:

http://www.vivamadeira.com/peticoes/component/content/article/39-activas/165-leidemeios.html