Update of the implementation project for the Viseu Arts and Entertainment Center opens up disagreement between PSD and PS

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The arts center will be built next to the cyber roundabout, in the Avenida da Europa area, where the Viseu Court is located, and will have 1,500 seats, half of which will be in an open-air auditorium

The Chamber approved the update of the project (preliminary study) of the future Viseu Arts and Entertainment Center (CAEVIS), an item on the agenda of the executive meeting held this Thursday and which led to an exchange of clarifications and doubts with several interruptions between the social democratic majority and the socialist opposition.

The project had already been prepared, for the first time, in 2010, when the mayor announced this equipment. Fernando Ruas has since left the municipality, and now, upon his return, he has returned to the project that he wants to be the work of his mandate.
“If I had more time, the other time, I would have started the Arts Center, but it wasn’t possible, because I had just under a year to finish my mandate and so I left everything ready, with the acquisition of land, for one day move forward”, explained the president of the Chamber.

Now, and taking into account that “the original project is from 2010, it is necessary to work on it, update it and adapt it” to current times. “This will cost just over 600 thousand euros, but if this project were to be carried out now it would certainly be much more expensive, but we have an original version that serves as a model for the update”, he clarified.
This was one of the points that led to the intervention of PS councilors. The socialists, who voted against, began by highlighting the amount that had already been spent on “two preliminary studies” and then questioned where the municipality hopes to get funding.

“In fact, we do not fully know whether this is the most impactful solution for the cultural, tourist and economic development of the municipality. At the same time, it is a work without guaranteed financing, which will burden the people of Viseu. In view of the above, it is not possible for us to make an informed decision on the premise of investing around 22 million euros, without the certainty that this is the equipment that will effectively respond to the infrastructure needs that Viseu presents”, justified the socialists in the declaration of vote.
For the PS, and through the voice of João Azevedo, there are analyzes that should have been carried out, namely whether this is the type of equipment that Viseu needs or whether the “significant” investment in this work will not “dry up other investments that can be made in the county.”
“We recognize that Viseu has gaps in terms of infrastructure that can host diverse cultural events. However, the solution presented by the municipal executive lacks substantive and formal basis, as we are completely unaware whether any public and economic feasibility study has been carried out that allows the executive to confirm that this is the best investment option”, he said. , immediately questioning where the municipality will seek funding.

An observation that did not sit well with Fernando Ruas and that even led to several interruptions, from one side to the other, between what councilor João Azevedo was asking and President Fernando Ruas was clarifying.
In the end, the social-democratic mayor stated that the project will move forward, even without there being any type of financing”, despite having acknowledged that, with the change of Government, to the PSD, he is “thinking that there will be financing”.
“I’m also going to look for him, in other circumstances I would have more difficulty, but whoever the Minister of Culture is has to tell me why I don’t have money here. Furthermore, I will ask if a PRR is also applicable here” (Recovery and Resilience Plan), he assumed.

The arts center will be built next to the cyber roundabout, in the Avenida da Europa area, where the Viseu Court is located, and will have 1,500 seats, half of which will be in an open-air auditorium.
During the campaign for the 2021 local elections, Fernando Ruas – who had already been president of the Chamber between 1989 and 2013 – promised to resume the Viseu Arts and Entertainment Center project, which he had designed since 2010.
Fernando Ruas stressed that the arts center “will fill a gap”, remembering that Viseu has renounced hosting “more demanding shows” for which neither the Teatro Viriato, nor the multi-purpose pavilion, meet the conditions.