The new mayor of Porto also said that he is ready to assume his responsibilities in the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP), when asked if he wants to be elected president of the Metropolitan Council.
The new mayor of Porto, Pedro Duarte, took office this Wednesday and stated his aim was to “rethink the city’s economic development model”, warning of excessive dependence on tourism and real estate.
“We will have to rethink our economic development model. A city that depends excessively on tourism and real estate runs the risk of becoming hostage to its own success”, he said in his inauguration speech, at a ceremony at the Monastery of São Bento da Vitória which was attended by, among others, the outgoing president Rui Moreira, his counterpart from Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, his counterpart from Gaia, Luís Filipe Menezes, and the bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda.
For Pedro Duarte, Porto needs to reinforce its “productive base and invest in tradable goods and services”, by “diversifying, consolidating the knowledge economy, valuing creative industries, attracting innovative companies and protecting local commerce, which sustains the city’s cohesion”.
In the initial part of his speech, he had already identified that “Porto has grown, but with growth also came new pains: pressure on housing, insecurity, limitations on mobility, inequalities that persist”.
Listing five essential points, Pedro Duarte assured that he will govern with a focus on “solving people’s real problems”, will choose to act “based on dialogue, listening and consensus”, will maintain “Porto’s legacy of correct accounts and responsible management”, will govern with “proximity” being “on the streets and in the neighborhoods, and still exercising power “with courage”, without depending on “private interests” and “with boldness towards the old people of Restelo and with detachment before the ‘status quo'”.
“Porto cannot – nor does it want to – close in on itself. It must be thought of as a network and viewed in conjunction with the Metropolitan Area, the North Region, the Country and Europe”, he also said, seeing the city as “a reference of cooperation and trust between the municipalities of the region”, with a “constructive attitude”, “strategic vision” and “capacity to bring together”.
Porto as leader
Recovering an idea from his electoral victory speech on October 12, Pedro Duarte said he wanted to affirm the city “without complexes”, assuming “his leadership responsibility: leading to unite the region, to project Greater Porto, to reinforce the role of the North and, in this way, to strengthen Portugal”.
With his eyes also set outside the municipality that he will govern over the next four years, the former minister considered that the municipality is no stranger to global challenges, such as climate change, “wars, geopolitical tensions and new authoritarianism”, reminding everyone present at the inauguration that “peace and democracy are fragile achievements”.
“Social inequalities remind us that progress is only true when it takes us all with it”, he also declared, saying that his vision for the city “is based on a simple idea: governing is creating the conditions for people to be happy”.
Regarding the word “happiness”, he considered that “for too long, politics has moved away from this word – as if it were abstract, superfluous or even inappropriate in the political dictionary”.
For Pedro Duarte, “happiness is not a luxury, nor a pipe dream: it is the raison d’être of community life” and “being happy is having health, a decent home and a job that allows you to live in peace”, with “time for family, friends, rest, sport and culture” where you can walk “safely” and “breathe clean air”.
“A city of opportunities. Of opportunities for everyone, regardless of whether they grow up in a social neighborhood or a luxury condominium”, he stressed.
To his predecessor Rui Moreira, Pedro Duarte left words of gratitude for giving a “new life to the city”, recognized his management carried out with “independence and courage” and said he felt “inspired” by the legacy he left behind.
“It opened Porto to the world and gave the world to Porto. In these 12 years, the city has experienced a profound transformation and has become an international reference”, he added.
Closing his speech, he said that “social cohesion is not decreed, it is built”, considering that “it is time to unite”, “feel empathy”, resurrect “the sense of community, belonging and mutual help”.
“If there is a city capable of fighting against the climate of distrust, isolation and hatred that marks our time, that city is Porto”, he stressed, ending with a “bibó Porto”.
Preside over the Metropolitan Council? I am available to take on responsibilities”
Pedro Duarte also said that he is ready to assume his responsibilities in the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP), when asked if he wants to be elected president of the Metropolitan Council.
“This will involve a conversation that I will have, in the short term, with my colleagues from the other municipal councils that make up the metropolitan area, but, obviously, I feel a responsibility to lead the Porto Chamber. I think that Porto cannot stand aside from what is a metropolitan strategy and the city of Porto has special characteristics, as everyone will understand. I am, of course, available to assume my responsibilities, too”, he told journalists.
Also to journalists, about the resumption this week of works on the metrobus on Avenida da Boavista, Pedro Duarte replied: “Anyone who knows knows, the avenue is absolutely full of holes and there are fences everywhere and, therefore, it is clear that this work, to restore the situation we had, would always have to be done”, he said.
Regarding the precautionary measure that was filed with the Administrative and Fiscal Court (TAF) of Porto during the election period, to stop the works on the metrobusthe now president of the chamber said that the action was no longer justified as, at the time, seas works were suspended.
The works of the second phase of the metrobus of Porto, suspended by the new administration of Metro do Porto in October, resumed on Monday on Avenida da Boavista, between Rosário and Fonte da Moura, a source from the carrier confirmed.
“The section already started between Colégio do Rosário e [a Avenida do Dr.] Antunes Guimarães”, an official source from Metro do Porto told Lusa.
On October 3rd, Metro do Porto decided to make a “temporary technical stop” of the work on the second phase of the metrobuswhich kicked off on September 22nd.
The works were challenged, both by candidates for the presidency of the Porto City Council and by members of the public, particularly regarding the felling of trees.
