AML recorded damage of almost 270 million euros due to the bad weather that affected the country between the end of January and the beginning of February. Carlos Moedas defended the need for agility in executing the program and that this is an opportunity to create more territorial resilience.
The Minister of Infrastructure assured this Thursday the mayors of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area that investments to respond to the damage caused by bad weather will not count towards the debt of municipal councils, revealed the president of the Metropolitan Council.
“What you told us, the good news, is that the PTRR [Portugal Transformação Recuperação Resiliência] it will not count towards the ‘deficit’, in the sense of what is the ‘deficit’ of a city hall, which in fact cannot exist, municipal councils cannot have a ‘deficit’“, said the president of the Lisbon Metropolitan Council, Carlos Moedas (PSD), conveying the message left by the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luz, to the mayors of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML).
Governor Miguel Pinto Luz attended an AML meeting, which took place in Loures, district of Lisbon, interrupting his presence at the Council of Ministers meeting, to present to mayors the PTRR program to respond to the adverse effects and consequences of recent climate phenomena that affected the country, especially between the end of January and the beginning of February, with intense rain and strong winds.
Damage of “almost 270 million euros”
The minister left without giving statements to journalists, and the summary of the meeting was made by Carlos Moedas, who revealed that the provisional survey of losses in the 18 AML municipalities points to losses of “almost 270 million euros”.
“We are very, in a way, hopeful about the PTRR”, said the president of the Lisbon Metropolitan Council, considering it “good news” that this program will be extended to all municipalities in the countryinstead of just being for those who were in a calamity situation.
Noting the survey of damage from bad weather in AML is “not comparable” with other districts in the country, including Leiria, with heavy losses, Carlos Moedas explained that there are municipalities that were not in a calamity situation, but that have “very deep damage”.
The AML representative argued that “agility and speed” is needed in executing the PTRR programwithout the “amount of bureaucracy” that mayors are usually faced with, to avoid delays in making funds available to meet “pressing needs” due to bad weather.
Carlos Moedas highlighted that municipalities are already responding to the damage caused by the recent bad weathersmobilizing funds from municipal budgets to intervene: “We are here replacing the Central State, because we are the ones on the front line, we have to defend the people, we are using that money, so we need to be reimbursed for that money as quickly as possible.”
In this sense, the mayor welcomed the announcement by the Minister of Infrastructure that these investments will not count towards the legal debt limit of municipal councils.
Coins argues that recovery program is “an opportunity to create more resilience”
Without yet having a date for when the PTRR money will reach the AML municipalities, social democrat Carlos Moedas, who is also president of Lisbon City Council, argued that This recovery program is “an opportunity to create more resilience” in the country’s territories.
“We cannot stay here just thinking about what we are going to rebuild because it was destroyed, but how we build more resilient cities for the future, in which these phenomena have no effect”, said the mayor, reinforcing that “these climate phenomena will happen again in the coming years”.
Therefore, the president of the Metropolitan Council stressed the need for measures to “adapt to a different world”, in the context of climate change, noting that “these measures are structural and the PTRR will be part of these measures“.
“I hope this changes the structure of the country, in a certain way, in preparation”, he explained, considering that the work must be joint between municipalitiesincluding at the level of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
“Since a problem in Loures is a problem in the city of Lisbon, a problem in Vila Franca [de Xira]it’s a problem for all of us, it’s the entire Metropolitan Region that has to work together and the PTRR will allow us to do this”, he highlighted.
The Lisbon Metropolitan Area is made up of 18 municipalities on the north and south banks of the Tagus River, namely Alcochete, Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Palmela, Seixal, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira.
At least 18 people died in Portugal following the passage of depressions Kristin, Leonardo and Marta, which also caused many hundreds of injuries and displacement.
The total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, the fall of trees and structures, the closure of roads, schools and transport services, and the cut of energy, water and communications, floods and floods are the main material consequences of the storm.
The Centro, Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and Alentejo regions were the most affected.
