Mata Nacional de Leiria will sell fallen trees. Insurance warns the Government

The President of the Republic promised to keep the Government under surveillance regarding the reconstruction of the central area, considering that it is necessary to maintain “the level of aid and proximity”, accelerate support and adapt measures.

After a meeting, lasting around two hours, which marked the end of the Open Presidency, the first of his mandate, which for five days toured the municipalities most affected by the bad weather at the beginning of the year, António José Seguro issued a warning to the Government: “Everything can’t stay the same. Everything can’t stay the same.”

The President of the Republic promised that his “vigil in relation to this reconstruction of the central area will continue”starting next week with a meeting in Belém with experts.

The head of state wants “the level of aid and proximity” to be maintained and asked for support to be accelerated and measures adapted.

Insurance requests report

Furthermore, he pointed out that missing, and “it is due to the country”, a report from the Government that explains what really happened on the storm train.

“We cannot continue to pass time without having a document that truly explains what happened in these final days of January and also in the beginning days of February,” he said.

From Seguro’s perspective, “it is impossible to draw conclusions” if one does not know “correctly what went right, what went wrong, what support and means came later”.

The President expressed “a lot of concern regarding the lack of redundancy of telecommunications, electricity supply, unblocking road networks”.

PR listens to complaints

In the early afternoon, the head of state, who had lunch at Praia da Vieira, walked along the beach, greeting the population and listening to some complaints from businesspeople, who saw their restaurants destroyed by the bad weather.

“There is not a single company that wants to insure us. We have no one to help us”said one of the businesswomen, to whom Seguro promised to find out about the situation.

To another businessman, who complained about the lack of support and difficulty to achieve bank loan to rebuild your restaurant by the sea, the President of the Republic told him to speak to Paulo Fernandesthe coordinator of the Mission Structure for the Reconstruction of the Central Region of the Country, who followed with the delegation.

“He doesn’t exactly have the money, but he is a person with great sensitivity and can help you understand how public support can help your activity,” he said.

Along the way, the President of the Republic also heard laments from the delay by insurance companiesthe delay of compensatory payments of Social Security due to lay-off and prohibition on installing terraces.

Regarding the delay identified by a businessman, regarding support for the reconstruction of his restaurant, by the Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR) of the Center, Seguro also said that he would take note.

Fallen trees will be sold

As trees in the Leiria National Forest felled by storm Kristin will be sold at public auctionthose responsible revealed to the President of the Republic.

In total there are “around 100 thousand cubic meters of fallen wood”the equivalent of 1,075 hectares in around 11 thousand hectares, where there is still around half of the paths to be cleared – he explained Margarida Gonçalvestechnician from the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation (ICNF), to António José Seguro.

The President of the Republic, accompanied by the president of ICNF, Old TownI wanted to see up close the 165-year-old eucalyptus tree that fell and was equivalent in height to a 16-story building.

It is precisely in this place, where this tree classified as being of public interest fell, that a memorial will be installed.

“We’re going to make a memorial here. We’re going to save it, we’re going to clean the surrounding area and create a route”, informed Margarida Gonçalves, who admitted that it will be difficult to maintain this tree, which “over the years will disappear”.

The Leiria National Forest, a public property managed by the ICNF, had already suffered catastrophic damage with the fires of October 2017, which ended up being worsened by Storm Leslie in 2018 and now by Storm Kristin.