Colombo Resort rescue plan, New Porto Moniz leisure facility, & other snippets

TODAY’S PHOTO : Thanks to Jon … The Queen Victoria in Funchal.

Front Page News : source : Diário de Notícias 6/2/2009

On the initiative of the tourism boss for Portugal, a meeting was held on Thursday to try and rescue the Colombo Resort project on Porto Santo. Banks, creditors, builders, and the regional government were all invited, but no details were given out of the results of the meeting. The project collapsed after Starwood pulled out of the project (to manage the hotel) and then the promoter pulled out when the money ran out. If Cristiano Ronaldo wants to build a hotel there, perhaps they should have invited him along to consider a consolidated project … I am sure Sir Alice Fungusson would have given him a few days off, as the English premiership title race is pretty much settled now.

In a second article re the above, it is reported that the creditors of the project have asked for an audit to assess the exact progress to date, and that report will in turn will be used to support a rescue plan. Thirty days have been allowed to obtain and study the report before the next stage, but the suggested solution is a partnership between the banks / investors and both the governments of the republic and Madeira. President Jardim is said not to be keen on this, and that may be why he didn’t attend the meeting.

There are families in Santa Cruz living in shacks, whilst they wait for new housing to be finished, under the management of the câmara (council). All in all, there are 46 families awaiting the completion of 3 new apartment blocks … which so far have been ‘almost ready’ for 3 years, with the work having stopped, despite being so near completion. The site is now becoming overgrown and degraded through lack of attention. Amongst other reasons, the completion is held up due to central government not providing the €2 million necessary to pay the construction company.

‘Dissatisfied Doctor (male) Substitutes Dissatisfied Doctor (female)’ tells the story of medical politics in the department of pediatrics in the hospital (Funchal Central?) when an existing  postholder was asked to resign and replaced by someone who it seemed was already on the way out of the service.

In São Bento (assembly of the republic of Portugal) yesterday a vote was taken on an amendment to the 2009 state budget, as mentioned recently. Only three votes in support were cast, those being from the deputies representing the social democrats of Madeira (PSD-M), who made the proposals in the first place. After another slating by Jardim against the socialist administration a few days ago, I reckon some serious groveling by AJJ is the only way he will get anything from this government … and that is just not going to happen.

A new source of pollution hits Funchal port, with plastic bags, dead fish, pieces of cardboard and packaging and oil (believed to be food oil) were seen floating yesterday morning near the ramp for loading and unloading, usually used by the ‘Lobo Marinho’ and ‘Volcan de Tijarafe’. The Captain of the Port of Funchal, ensured that the focus of the pollution is controlled but that its origin has not yet been identified. Funny how these pollution incidents nearly always occur in Funchal port or marina, or could it be that they go unnoticed / unactioned elsewhere?

Other News :

In a frightening escalation of the taxi drivers protest (where they all parked up in Praia Formosa some days ago), they will now be wearing black ribbons on their vehicles, to draw attention to their plight about unfair competition from bus companies and tour operators. The black ribbon shown in the photo is about as long as a shoelace, is tied to the bonnet symbol of the vehicle, and is about as attention catching as potato in a vegetable shop.

The location of Eira Achada in Ribeira da Janela (Porto Moniz) is to have a new leisure facility costing €1.1 million, in an arrangement through a program devised between the Câmara of Porto Moniz and the Government. The area will be reorganised to provide walks, parks and viewpoints, toilets at the main viewpoint, play spaces for children and areas for picnics. The contract has been given to ‘Tecnovia Madeira’ who have 330 days to complete the work.

As usual with any financial information shown on this blog … reader beware. Failure to pay tax (Income, VAT/IVA etc) deliberately or through a mistake was in the past considered to be a crime, if the amount was considered by the tax authorities worth pursuing. They have now placed a specified level for that at €7,500, as included in the state budget for 2009, in order to reduce the amount of small value cases going through the courts. It was the case, for example, that improper or overstating of taxable deductions was punishable by up to 3 years in prison. Fines will still apply of course.

Brazilian experts warn of the risk of infestation in Portugal of the carrier of dengue disease . The mosquito, ‘Aedes aegypti’, poses a real threat particularly if there is any worsening in global warming. “There is a real risk of having an infestation of ‘Aedes aegypti’ in Portugal. The airflow between Portugal and Brazil today is very intense and the Portuguese authorities should inspect all aircraft coming from infected areas,” said one major specialists of dengue in Brazil. According to the epidemiologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, all flights out of Australia should be sprayed in order to fly to Portugal, where the possibilities of spreading ‘Aedes aegypti’ are higher as global temperatures rise.

This weekends football : Both teams play away from home at 4pm tomorrow : Nacional visit Naval, and Marítimo go to Guimarães. Neither game is televised. 

Have a good weekend!

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