“The rehabilitation of the Ribeira de Algés, which is now being inaugurated, involves the creation of a retention basin that will help slow the overflow of the river during heavy rains and prevent flooding,” explained an official source from the office of the municipality’s president, Isaltino Morais (independent).
The initiative, which required a municipal investment of 500,000 euros, is part of “a set of preventive measures developed by the municipality of Oeiras to reduce the risk of flooding in the Baixa de Algés,” the source added.
The work on the channelized section of the river is included in the protocol signed in January between the municipality and the Government, aimed at “resolving the flooding issue in Algés definitively.”
“This initial work, costing 1.8 million euros, with a contribution of 500,000 euros from the Portuguese Environment Agency, is urgently needed to ensure the safety of the road between Largo Comandante Augusto Madureira and the Algés Market and is expected to be completed by September,” the municipal source stated.
A report by the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) from September 2024 concluded that out of 912 meters inspected, 57% of the sections are at risk of “collapse” in the near future.
“On a condition scale with increasing severity from 1 to 5, 57% of the sections inspected are in condition class 4 and about 13% in class 3,” the report noted, accessed by Lusa.
Condition class four corresponds to a “probable collapse in the near future,” while class three suggests an “unlikely collapse in the near future but continued deterioration is likely.”
Councilwoman Carla Castelo, from the coalition Evoluir Oeiras (BE/Livre/Volt), stated that she has long been “warning about the danger that the advanced state of deterioration of the Ribeira de Algés poses to the residents of Oeiras, especially those living in Algés.”
Subsequently, “the most important work” will be carried out, which involves doubling the riverbed and will also involve the municipalities of Lisbon and Amadora, an investment expected to “amount to around 40 million euros,” with funding “from the European Portugal 2030 program,” noted the official source from the municipality.
The mayor, elected by the independent movement Innovate Oeiras Again (IN-OV), announced in December the agreement with the Minister of Environment and Energy for co-financing in the rehabilitation of the river that originates in Amadora, passes through Oeiras, and flows into Lisbon territory.
According to Isaltino Morais, the intervention was then estimated at about 30 million euros, with the municipality providing “half of the project’s cost.”
Minister Maria da Graça Carvalho previously indicated to Lusa that the “first phase of rehabilitation will begin in 2025, on the section that is in the most critical state,” and that the Ministry “will finance half of the intervention in the Ribeira de Algés.”
Today, the municipality will also inaugurate the new Ribeira de Algés Parking Lot, which will provide an additional 135 spaces in that area and is included in the revitalization project that will eventually host the Western Intermodal Sustainable Line (LIOS).
Under the two lines being studied, the Western LIOS will connect Oeiras to Alcântara (Lisbon), while the Eastern LIOS will travel between Santa Apolónia and Sacavém (Loures).
The Western LIOS project, part of the program to improve mobility in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, is expected to be presented soon by the municipalities of Oeiras and Lisbon.
