The mayors of the Serra da Estrela municipalities this Saturday classified as a “good starting point” the 200 million euros in measures approved for municipalities with a burned area equal to or greater than 4,500 hectares.
“Obviously any measure deserves our analysis when we have access to the resolution itself, but at this point I would say it’s a good starting point for us to intervene in the area”said the mayor of Manteiga, Flávio Massano.
The mayor spoke to the mayors of the provinces affected by the fire of Serra da Estrela, after a meeting that the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, Ana Abrunhosa, had promoted to present to them the approved measures set out in a resolution of the Council of Ministers, which week should appear.
In statements to journalists, Ana Abrunhosa explained that the package already approved consists of emergency measures and measures for resilience and competitiveness.
The first are worth EUR 112 million and will be implemented by the end of 2022, while the resilience and competitiveness measures, to be implemented by June 2023, have a financial envelope of EUR 88 million.
In addition, the Serra da Estrela Revitalization Plan is currently being drawn up.
Flávio Massano, host of Saturday’s meeting, emphasized the fact that the measures were designed together with the municipalities, as well as the fact that support to Serra da Estrela is not limited to this package, as the Revitalization Plan for Serra da Estrela Estrela has its own have a budget.
The mayor also emphasized that the biggest concern now relates to implementation: “More important than the millions is what we are going to be able to implement. And we mayors are concerned and we are focused on what we are going to be able to do.” billion euros for the territory if later we are not able to export 1% of that billion,” he said.
In this regard, he pointed very positively to the fact that, under the dire situation proclaimed for Serra da Estrela, the municipalities have the power to accelerate procedures so that “answers are given as quickly as possible”.
Also present, Luís Tadeu, the President of the Inter-Community Community of Beiras and Serra da Estrela (CIM-BSE) and of the Câmara de Manteigas, Luís Tadeu, also emphasized that the EUR 200 million is earmarked for measures of “very short and medium term”, emphasizing that after that the focus will have to be on the Serra da Estrela Revitalization Plan.
Asked about the effort that municipalities will have to make in some situations, as not all measures are supported on a non-refundable basis, Luís Tadeu said this was known “from the beginning”, although he noted the importance of most of the measures are non-refundable, namely in the environmental component.
On Thursday, the government approved the global amount of about 200 million euros to minimize the damage caused by the rural fires in August in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park (PNSE), namely in the municipalities of Celorico da Beira, Covilhã, Gouveia, Guarda, Manteigas and Seia, as well as in all municipalities with an accumulated burned area, in 2022, equal to or greater than 4,500 hectares or 10% of the respective area.
According to the statement released at the end of the Council of Ministers, the municipalities of Carrazeda de Ansiães (Bragança), Mesão Frio (Vila Real), Murça (Vila Real), Vila Real, Albergaria-a-Velha (Aveiro) are eligible for this criterion. , Alvaiázere (Leiria), Ansião (Leiria) and Ourém (Santarém).
Source: DN
