Since summer this year the residents of Vale
Fuzeiros, Silves, have campaigned
desperately to stop the line going up,
despite construction on the mammoth pylons
already having started.
Their efforts, directed at the government
and other top ranking officials, gained some
advances and mild support, yet little has
come of the promises of intervention.
Now Silves' Mayor Soares has promised to
appeal to a court of law for an injunction,
should REN not halt works on their
high-tension line.
This stance was made public following yet
another failed attempt at sitting all the
responsible parties at one table to solve
the issue, during a National Association for
Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP), which took
place recently in Lisbon.
"We thought that this meeting in Lisbon
would unite all of the involved parties, but
unfortunately it didn't and little was
resolved", she said.
Deemed "inconclusive" by the Mayor, who
lamented that, "once again, the entities
responsible for the licensing of this
project failed to turn up", this latest
meeting resulted in the Mayor saying, "I
hope REN changes its attitude and that we
can reach a solution, otherwise we will take
the matter to court".
Present at the meeting, besides Silves'
Mayor, were representatives of REN as well
as of the National Board for Energy and
Geology, the Portuguese Association for the
Environment and Regional Committee for
Coordination and Development of the Algarve
(CCDR), the Institute of Water (INAG) and
the Institute for Nature Conservation (ICN).
Described as an "unacceptable game of
‘tag' between REN and the State Secretary
for the Environment", Mayor Soares has also
promised to send a report of the whole
meeting to the State Secretary for the
Environment, who was ab sent, and request
action.
Whilst REN defends it will only change
the path of its high-tension route upon
orders from the State Sec retary for the
Environment, this authority, in turn, claims
REN must first ask for its intervention.
"I hope we can find a so lution", the
Mayor said, "otherwise we will advance with
taking the matter to the courts".
At the same time, Vale Fuzeiros residents
are al ready planning more pro tests for the
near future.
