The Ourém City Hall announced today the creation of new parking and camping areas, the installation of drinking fountains and the reinforcement of waste collection in Fatima, on the occasion of the World Youth Day (WYD).
WYD will take place between August 1 and 6 in Lisbon, and Pope Francis has announced that he will visit the Shrine in Fatima on August 5.
At a press conference in Ourém, the mayor of the municipality, Luís Albuquerque, explained that there will be two authorized camping sites, with total capacity for 3,500 people, next to the João Paulo II soccer field and on João XXIII Avenue.
“In these spaces access, support, and security infrastructures are being finalized,” he mentioned, exemplifying with the regularization of land, water and sewage connections, lighting, bathrooms, and bathing areas.
As far as car parking is concerned, Luís Albuquerque clarified that about 80 plots of land have been identified, with an area of approximately 52 hectares and a capacity of approximately 11 thousand spaces, noting that it was necessary to talk to all the owners, as well as to clean up these spaces.
As for heavy passenger vehicles, “nine plots of land with about 12 hectares and an approximate capacity for 1,800 passenger buses have been identified and requested,” he said, noting that there will be a transfer service, with timetables from 04:00 to 09:30 and 11:30 to 18:00, to meet at a temporary bus terminal next to the Beato Nuno School Center.
The routes for the transfers are Ourém City Park, Santa Catarina da Serra (Leiria) and Our Lady of Ortiga Sanctuary (Fátima), and the City Hall has contracted 15 external buses, besides mobilizing eight from the municipality.
The mayor said that procedures are also underway for the creation and signaling of the external ring road north of Fatima, “to divert and decongest traffic, including placement of vertical and horizontal traffic signs, for activation whenever the security authorities deem necessary,” he said.
Also in the scope of infrastructures and security, five sites were identified, including public and private, with about two hectares, for the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) and assembly of the security operation (São Miguel College, old school of Lomba d’Égua, Leiria road, soccer field of Monfortinos and park 10 of the Shrine of Fatima.
In this aspect, Luís Albuquerque explained that the safety and rescue operation will take place between July 24 and August 15, and that “the levels of commitment will oscillate according to the forecasts of mass movement.
The mayor of Ourém, in the district of Santarem, also said that the municipality contracted 14 sanitary containers and changing rooms, and 80 portable chemical toilets, to support the camping sites and the relief operation. In the city of Fatima, 27 containers for solid urban waste were reinforced and 18 drinking fountains were installed, for the availability of drinking water.
According to Luís Albuquerque, the planning began in August last year, to “create all the conditions to receive the thousands of young visitors”, with a small group of entities (City Hall, ANEPC, National Republican Guard, Fátima Parish Council, Fátima Sanctuary and Ourém/Fátima Business Association).
The enlarged group includes, besides these entities, the companies BeWater, Tejo Ambiente, Suma, telecommunication operators, Rodoviária, Infraestruturas de Portugal, CP, E-Redes, Valorlis, Águas do Centro Litoral, and Brisa.
