A mixed-capital company is assuming responsibility for the public infrastructure at Vilamoura from February, in a model that has been tested at Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo. Services such as the distribution of domestic water, basic sanitation and improvement to the roads, which have to date been carried out by Lusotur, will be handed over to Inframoura, a municipal company 51% owned by the Loulé Municipal Council.

Inframoura is thus taking on a range of responsibilities which also include the collection of solid urban waste and garden waste, the maintenance of green areas, rainwater drainage systems, the public lighting network, the gas distribution network, public parking areas, and the supervision and cleaning of roads.

Also very important are the powers of monitoring and inspecting of the infrastructures of areas in Vilamoura that have been authorised for dividing into lots by the Loulé Municipal Council, as well as the organisation together with the local authority of the “provisional reception” of these.

Taxes to be paid to Inframoura

With this change in “service provider” all the taxes that were previously paid to Lusotur will now be paid to Inframoura, E.M., in accordance with the tariffs that have been approved by the local authority in Loulé.

Nuno Sancho Ramos, president of the board of directors of Inframoura told the Algarve Observer that they did not want a radical change in Vilamoura; above all they wanted to see the public interested safeguarded.

The president of Inframoura said that it was only now that the conditions existed for working on the ground. He said that in June they had begun with an exhaustive survey of all the infrastructure in Vilamoura, and after six months this survey is now complete. They had ascertained that there were many shortcomings that needed to be overcome, mainly in the road network; he added that the network in Vilamoura was 20 years old and in some cases had never had any work done on it.

Projects to start now

It is thus no surprise that one of the first objectives will be to resurface and improve part of the existing road network, in a substantial investment which will also be based on some environmental concerns such as the introduction of cycle paths on all the roads where work is done (wherever technically feasible).

The focus on the creation and maintenance of green spaces is another of the priorities highlighted by Inframoura, which aims to raise the standards of quality and excellence which make Vilamoura one of the benchmarks for urban and tourist spaces nationally and internationally.

It will be recalled that the first step for the creation of this mixed-capital company was taken in 2001, but it was only on 18th May 2006 that the agreement between the Loulé Council and Lusotur was signed to enable it to begin operating.

 

source: algarve observer