After frustrating years of tailbacks, pot-holes and drama, the EN125 roadworks are at last back on track.
Held up since 2011 – and indeed ‘promised’ long ago by the government – work will now resume in earnest in July.
It’s part of a whole slew of road improvements up and down the country, but for the Algarve it spells hope after years of despair.
This is what politicians of all colours have been fighting for since the only alternative – the A22 Via do Infante – became one of the most expensive tolled roads in Europe.
The work – announced by the Negotiation Commission on Wednesday – will involve repairs and upgrades to the whole Olhão-Vila do Bispo stretch of highway, plus the long-awaited bypasses round Faro, Lagos and S. Lourenço/ Troto. Other roads in the region, covering a total of 100km, plus the EN125 stretch between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António, will fall under the remit of national road authority Estradas de Portugal for the purpose of maintenance and repairs works.
The agreement, which also includes major road works in the Lower Alentejo, was signed by concessionaries SPER and RAL and sub-concessionaries ‘Baixo Alentejo’ and ‘Algarve Litoral’.
According to the statement released on Wednesday, the new agreements have succeeded in trimming as much as €507 million in the Algarve case and €944 million in the Lower Alentejo.
The agreement is now being sent for ratification to “financial entities”, the Government and finally the Tribunal de Contas (Court of Auditors).
