The owner of two rustic buildings in Albufeira, which the company Águas do Algarve wants to expropriate to build a (projected) desalination plant, does not want to leave the land.
They also do not accept the value of the expropriation, which is much lower than the value for which they were bought. It is a process that could drag on in court, the owners promise.
According to Expresso, the public tender for the contract for the desalination plant should be opened soon, but Águas do Algarve does not yet have in its possession all the rustic buildings where it wants to implement the seawater factory, and the deadline for the owners of the land to respond to the expropriation letter ends this Thursday (January 25, 2024), there is one that does not yield.
Quoted by the publication, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action (MAAC) said that the tender for the contract “will be open by the end of January, which corresponds to the pre-contractual procedure for the construction of the desalination plant”. This is despite the fact that there is still no date for the issuance of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which could put a brake on the project.
According to the guardianship, “the ongoing expropriation process will safeguard the rights and interests of the expropriated, and under the terms of the Public Contracts Code, the owner of the project is only required to be in administrative possession of the land to be expropriated on the date of the conclusion of the contract”.
In question is a land located in Quinta da Ponte – where the desalination plant is intended to be installed-consisting of two buildings (one rustic and the other mixed), which total 12 hectares and are located in the parish of Albufeira and Olhos de Água, three kilometers from Falésia Beach.
The buildings were acquired by Juan Ferreiro Diaz, in 2005, for 1,7 million euros, writes Expresso, stressing that the owner is dissatisfied with the expropriation proposal, which is around 634.000 euros. ”We are Galicians, we will fight for a fair process and challenge this expropriation in court.” said Juan Ferreiro Diaz’s daughter, Albide Ferreiro Gomez.
Related article: Algarve desalination plant will produce almost as much water as it loses