Around 150 jobs hang in the balance but the situation is “untenable”. “There have to be changes,” mayoress Isilda Gomes was talking about Portimão Urbis, the beleaguered municipal company set up to “run the general interests of the borough” but which rapidly became mired in debt and scandal.
Interviewed by Correio da Manhã newspaper, Gomes outlined the terms of the working group now appointed to decide the disgraced firm’s future.
The possibility of “extinction” is squarely on the table, she admitted.
Portimão Urbis has for years been in the newspapers for all the wrong reasons – it owes well over €18 million, a sum that has been increasing by the year since its inception under the auspices of former mayor Manuel da Luz.
According to Gomes, legislation “determines the closure of municipal businesses that have been making a loss for three years”. Thus Urbis’ days may well be numbered.
Referring to the working group’s remit, Gomes explained that the objective is to “prepare the way that will be least painful for the employees and the town council”. The group has until March 31 to produce its report.
The study will determine the “impact” of integrating Urbis’ activities into those of the council, which currently employs around 1,000 staff.
Meantime, the firm’s former administrator and at least two former councillors, including a deputy mayor, face charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering in what has been known as the “Caso Portimão Urbis”.
Photo: Mayoress Isilda Gomes says a working group is analysing the situation regarding Portimão Urbis
