“Through the implementation of the Village Condominiums program, Oliveira do Hospital is committed to enhancing the villages within the municipality, contributing towards creating safer, protected villages prepared for the future,” stated the Mayor, José Francisco Rolo.
The local government of this district in Coimbra announced through a press release that it will commence fuel management work in five new Village Condominiums established in the localities of Andorinha, Avô, Lourosa-Pombal, Póvoa de São Cosme, and Senhor das Almas.
Additionally, four more Village Condominiums will be implemented in Nogueirinha, Pinheiro dos Abraços, Vale da Madrana, and Vale do Ferreiro.
This investment, amounting to approximately 423 thousand euros, covers a total area of 172.8 hectares across nine parishes, aiming to “provide support and resilience to these villages, located in vulnerable forest territories, as well as implement measures to reduce the risks associated with the occurrence of fires.”
The execution of the work, such as cleaning fuel management strips, results from an application to the Integrated Support Program for Villages Located in Forest Territories, funded by the Environmental Fund through the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
These nine new intervention projects will join the six Village Condominiums already installed, one of which is under the “Green Condominium” project, a result of an application submitted by the Intermunicipal Community (CIM) of the Coimbra Region.
These have been executed in the localities of Gramaça, Parceiro, Pedras Ruivas, Ponte das Três Entradas, Póvoa das Quartas, and Merujais.
According to José Francisco Rolo, in addition to these 15 condominiums, the municipality has seven more projects awaiting approval.
“Altogether, we are talking about an investment of around 900 thousand euros to develop initiatives aimed at ensuring the change in land use and occupation and the management of fuels around population aggregations, with a total of 21 Village Condominiums installed or to be installed in the 16 parishes of the Oliveira do Hospital municipality,” he emphasized.
The village condominiums also encourage landowners to assume maintenance responsibilities, ensuring land cleaning and promoting income-generating land use.
“They have a strong participatory component and involvement of the local community, in favor of the sustainable economic development of these population centers,” he concluded.
