The PCP in the Lisbon Chamber accused the leadership of the PSD/CDS-PP this Wednesday of giving up on affordable housing, a criticism that was joined by the PS saying that the President of the Executive Branch, Carlos Moedas (PSD), depends on the projects of the previous administration.
“What I fear is that the president is sleeping in the shade of the banana tree, on top of the projects left to him and the works left to him, and we are destroying the PRR. [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência] and watch as time passes and nothing happens”declared PS councilor Inês Drummond, who criticized the PSD/CDS-PP leadership.
The socialist spoke at the public chamber meeting and referred to Carlos Moedas’ statements in the social democrat’s assessment of two years as head of the Lisbon Chamber.
The mayor said at the time that his mandate is limited to the verb to do.
“What we left behind, new houses under construction, were 776 houses, […]. Mr. President, at this point, when he says he has completed a thousand houses, we left all these under construction to him, so it was not difficult […]. What we want is more ambition with all this money”said Inês Drummond, who highlighted the implementation of PRR community funds.
The PS councilor also pointed to the “traditional way of permanent self-praise” of Carlos Moedas, who said in an interview about his two years in office that he had “a courageous decision” to sign a 560 million euros deal with the government to sign to invest in the field of housing, criticizing the mayor’s position: “I’m very brave, I’m the biggest on my street or here in my city.”
“Mr. President always talks about numbers and houses. Let me tell you that the Socialist Party in the previous term [2017-2021] it delivered 2,482 houses in four years, that much is certain. Mr. President has completed 1,000 houses after two years. Very good. We want you to deliver more and we will be the first, Mr President, to applaud if you manage to go further. We want you to do it. There was no PRR at that time. No money came in. At the time it was financing from the chamber”added the Socialist.
For the PCP, João Ferreira exposed the decision of the PSD/CDS-PP leadership “give up another affordable housing project”referring to the project at Quinta Alfarrobeira, in São Domingos de Benfica, on state land that would be transferred to the municipality for “a project with hundreds of affordable homes”.
The communist said the municipality “gave a lame excuse” for not accepting that affordable housing project, citing the response: “After evaluating the specific option and its various implications, including in terms of costs, further reinforced by alternatives and the availability of other sites already part of the municipal heritage, the decision was that it did not make strategic sense to this possibility”.
João Ferreira also emphasized that “the affordable housing project in Alto do Restelo is still in progress and still sitting in a drawer, while it was ready to start two years ago”adding that 600 houses are expected to be built but this awaits the public consultation report.
“They drag their feet doing nothing”accused the PCP councilor.
As for Carlos Moedas’ assessment of his two years in office, in which he summarized the situation “do, do, do”the communist declared: “In this case, don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it.”
“On your initiative there is nothing under construction and that is why you are not doing it”concludes João Ferreira, questioning the divestment in the Gira bike sharing network and how much the municipality has decided to pay for the organization of the cycling event La Vuelta so that it can start in Lisbon, without an answer.
Regarding the affordable housing project in Quinta da Alfarrobeira, the Councilor for Housing, Filipa Roseta (PSD), assured that the council “did not give up anything”, explaining that the Ministry of Defense was trying to sell the land “worth 20 to 30 euros . million euros”, only with the surface rights, i.e. the municipality did not have full ownership.
“We thought we have a lot of things to do and that can be done directly by the IHRU itself [Instituto da Habitação e da Reabilitação Urbana]without anyone having to buy the land”Filipa Roseta insisted, adding that the chamber has 800 million euros for works until 2028.
The project on Quinta da Alfarrobeira “would be the most expensive project of all”, because in addition to the price of the works, the municipality would also have to pay for the land and would not have full ownership, according to the PSD mayor.
Source: DN
