The Portuguese Environment Agency has a 14 million euro project to replenish sand on a stretch of coastline that includes Praia do Forte Novo, in Quarteira, whose sand disappeared after last week’s storm, the municipality said.
According to a press release from Loulé Town Hall, in the district of Faro, the recharging of the sand is now dependent on an application for European Union funds and the opening of an international public tender.
“The ARH [Administration of the Hydrographic Region] Algarve – Portuguese Environment Agency has already carried out a project to recharge the entire sandy area between the Quarteira seafront and Ancão beach, the estimated value of which is around 14 million euros,” the note reads.
The municipality adds that the project has been submitted as an application for EU funds under the Climate Action and Sustainability Program (PACS) and that, once the application has been approved, “an international public tender will follow to carry out the work to replace the sand”.
Last week’s sea storm caused damage to coastal areas on the south coast of mainland Portugal, causing the sand at Praia do Forte Novo, in the parish of Quarteira, in the municipality of Loulé, to disappear and partially destroying the walkways and street furniture there.
Loulé Town Hall has assured that it will remove all the debris and other waste that has accumulated there, in order to clean up the entire affected area, and once the sand has been replaced, the municipality will “take on the rehabilitation of the adjacent walkways and equipment”.
The municipality classifies the event as “regrettable” and “damaging to the tourist image of the region”, and reaffirms the need for “the legislator to create the necessary legal conditions by setting up a regional fund for an immediate and simplified response to the serious consequences of climatic phenomena, which will increase in frequency in the future”.
