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A five hectare car park with space for 1650 vehicles will be built on private land close to the southern end of the runway at Faro airport, a source at Polis has told the Algarve Observer. At the moment, the Sociedade Polis Litoral Ria Formosa is negotiating the purchase of the land, and building work there will include a public transport terminal which will provide transport to Praia de Faro.

Vehicular access to the Ilha will be banned, except for residents’ vehicles, the transport of goods and public transport.

According to a Polis source, it has not yet been decided what type of transport will operate on this route. The only thing that is certain is that they will be vehicles that are regarded as “light”, i.e. mini-buses or tourist trains.

Another of the matters being studied is whether there should be a charge for the car park or not.

The access road to the Ilha, between the airport roundabout and the bridge, is also one of the places where work will be done. Work includes the creation of areas for pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic.

Work is also planned for the lagoon area with the creation of water communication tunnels between the creeks.

Demolitions may be carried out in the central zone

At the moment, the Praia de Faro Detailed Plan is at the tendering stage, and contracts should be awarded on 16th December. The Detailed Plan includes the central part of the Ilha, which was removed from the Public Hydric Domain and has been under concession to the Faro local authority since 1956.

There is a possibility of demolitions being carried out in that area, especially of buildings in risk areas.

The decision depends on the cost- benefit analysis - in both environmental and financial terms - and the evaluation will be done under the Detailed Plan for the area.

The remaining areas included under the Polis project will undergo work to restore the natural environment, and to restructure and upgrade the built-up areas.

As regards the smaller islands, all buildings will be demolished, and the sites will be returned to their natural state.

source: http://www.algarveobserver.com