The land was bought from Lisbon City Council for 1.8 million euros to build affordable housing, financed by the PRR.
The Lisbon Municipal Assembly approved this Tuesday (April 17, 2024) the council’s sale of a plot of land in Benfica to the parish council for 1.8 million euros to build affordable housing, financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
The proposal was approved with Iniciativa Liberal (IL) and Chega voting against, PEV, PCP and PAN abstaining, and BE, Livre, a member of Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), PS, PSD, MPT, PPM, Aliança and CDS-PP voting in favor.
Signed by the mayor, Carlos Moedas (PSD), the proposal provides for the sale of a plot of municipal land, with a total area of 2,677 square meters (m2), on Estrada do Calhariz de Benfica, for 1,800,500 euros, to the Benfica Parish Council, chaired by Ricardo Marques (PS).
At stake is the construction of 50 affordable housing units on that plot of land, a project presented by the Benfica Parish Council, which submitted an application to the Housing and Urban Rehabilitation Institute(IHRU) for access to PRR funding.
Against the proposal, IL MP Angélique da Teresa warned of the “enormous unpreparedness” of this initiative, considering that it could be seen as a delegation of powers in the area of housing, “a delegation of confusion”, which could lead to future problems regarding the management of the estate.
Bruno Mascarenhas, from Chega, argued that ” real estate development shouldn’t be the responsibility of a parish council, real estate development should be given to private individuals”, criticizing “this agreement between the PS and the PSD”.
In the 2021-2025 term, there are 13 municipal groups that make up this deliberative body of the city of Lisbon: PS (27 deputies), PSD (17), CDS-PP (seven), PCP (five), BE (four), IL (three), Chega (three), PEV (two), PAN (one), Livre (one), PPM (one), MPT (one) and Aliança (one), and two independent deputies from the Cidadãos por Lisboa movement (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), for a total of 75 deputies.
In the city council, the proposal was approved on March 27, with the PCP abstaining and the rest voting in favor, namely the PSD/CDS-PP leadership, PS, Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by PS/Livre), Livre and BE.
The Lisbon City Council ‘s executive is made up of 17 members, including seven elected by the Novos Tempos coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Aliança) – who are the only ones with portfolios and govern without an absolute majority – three from the PS, two from the PCP, three from Cidadãos Por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), one from Livre and one from BE.
