“We believe there is a misunderstanding by the Court of Auditors (TdC) because, as with any construction, when problems arise, we must resolve them,” stated António Bota, mayor of Almodôvar (PS), in a statement.
The mayor emphasized that “sometimes it is not possible to determine certain soil characteristics using surveys and other techniques,” and when unforeseen work is required, “the project cannot be left unfinished.”
In this particular case, “midway through the project, we had to decide to build retaining walls that were not originally planned and slightly modify the project to adapt to these new elements,” he explained.
Highlighting the necessity of these walls, António Bota clarified that it was initially thought the ground where the multi-use complex ’emerged’ was solid rock when, in fact, “there was a lot of sand and earth.”
“Without those retaining walls, the entire project would have been at risk, and we had to adjust the project to avoid leaving an eyesore,” he reiterated.
The mayor mentioned that the council, based on internal opinions, chose “to directly award these additional works,” admitting full awareness that “the better procedure would have been to launch a public tender.”
“When you launch a public tender midway through a project, any bidder in the world can win, so who provides the guarantee? Is it the one who does that part in the middle or the one who completed almost the entire project?” he questioned.
The mayor stated that the municipality is preparing a counter-argument in the process with the TdC, arguing that even if the court’s decision is valid, “the context of the work and the [council’s] decision is not being analyzed.”
The magistrates of the TdC who analyzed the municipality’s procedures did so “with a ruler and a square,” but, “in this specific context, we had very limited options,” he added.
In this audit of the construction of the Multi-use Complex of Campo das Eiras, the TdC concluded that the municipality’s conduct “indicates illegality in the awarding of additional works.”
The court argues that some of the work “was unnecessary for the completion of the project with the initially planned and adjudicated purpose and characteristics,” thus “not constituting additional works.”
“Their awarding should have been preceded by a public tender or a limited tender by prior qualification, which did not occur, leading to the respective illegality,” emphasizes the entity responsible for public accounts oversight.
Inaugurated in April 2024, the Multi-use Complex of Campo das Eiras, in the town of Almodôvar, required a total investment of 2.4 million euros, with support from European funds.
