The publication of the regulations for sea beaches between Caminha-Espinho, awaiting the conclusion of the public consultation procedure for more than nine months, will be “very soon”, said the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA).
The document was, for the second time, under public consultation between May 22nd and July 4th, 2023, and has been under analysis since that date, according to the information provided by the participa.pt portal.
Asked about the delay in publishing the corrected and final version of the regulation, with nine months having passed since the end of the public consultation period, the APA explains that this procedure resulted in a “total of four hundred contributions, which had to be analyzed and considered individually”.
This work, continues the entity responsible for reviewing this document, “is practically completed, so its publication is expected very soon”.
The numbers released by the APA are, however, different from those revealed on July 27th of last year by the Ministry of the Environment, which reported 82 submissions received for the Maritime Beaches Management Regulation between Caminha-Espinho, after calculating the contributions sent by mail.
At the time, in response to Lusa, the guardianship also stated that the observations/suggestions received were being analyzed by APA, which would subsequently publish the results of the consultation, compiled in a consideration report to be published on the PARTICIPA portal.
To date, the discrepancy in numbers has not yet been explained by the APA, which has also not specified the date for publication of the final version of the document.
The regulation of sea beaches between Caminha and Espinho had already been the subject of a period of public participation, simultaneously with the Caminha-Espinho Coastal Coast Program (POC-CE), however, it was found that there were inconsistencies between the management standards of the beaches and what is foreseen in the management regulations, which is why a new consultation was launched on May 22nd.
The corrected version of the document excludes concessions or licenses in the 46 Critical Areas identified in the POC-CE, admitting only removable constructions on the sand.
In this document, APA maintains the intention to demolish, among others, the Transparent Building whose concession extension, for one year, was approved by the Porto Chamber, at the executive meeting, on Monday, as the POC is still under review -CE which foresees its demolition by 2028.
The property, designed by the Catalan architect Solà-Morales and built as part of Porto 2001 — European Capital of Culture, was granted a concession in June 2004 for a period of 20 years, a period that ended on June 27th.
“To our great surprise, the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) continues to not define what the future of the building will be”, said the president of the municipality, the independent Rui Moreira, during the discussion of this proposal, which was unanimously approved.
Saying that he does not know what will happen to the building, whether it will be destroyed or not, the mayor considered that, given the uncertainty, it would be better to extend the contract so that it does not become abandoned.
“There are a number of unknowns about the transparent building and, therefore, we cannot leave it abandoned”, he stressed.
The POC-CE, which came into force in August 2021 and which identifies 46 critical areas, determines the planned retreat of dozens of housing centers, as well as the demolition of several buildings, houses and restaurants, located on the coast between Caminha and Espinho.
