AT THE largest dinner ever held for the official presentation of a Lagos mayoral candidate, current Socialist câmara President, Júlio Barroso, presented his candidature for re-election.
Speaking before an audience of more than 1,000 supporters, including former President of the Republic Mário Soares, Barroso promised that, if re-elected, the Plano Director Municipal (PDM), the official planning document for Lagos, would come into force within the next year.
Despite some opposition to the plan from the Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Algarve (CCDR), the commission for regional coordination and development, Barroso expected all problems to be resolved (some aspects of which have been in development for over seven years) and that the revised plan would be approved by the end of the summer. The launch of the plan, he said, would make it possible for many public and private projects to go ahead throughout the municipality, providing a major benefit to the local economy.
Rather than attacking his rival candidates, Barroso chose to remind the gathering of his achievements over the past three years, such as the renovation of the municipal market, the completion of the new athletics track and the restoration of the Igreja das Freiras.
Outlining his future plans for Lagos, he said he wanted to attract international level events related to the sea, navigation, culture and sport, and said, further, that he wanted to establish in the city a centre of living science and a museum dedicated to the Portuguese Discoveries.
Barroso went on to say that one of his priorities would continue to be the deepening of Lagos’ partnership with the municipalities of the Associação de Terras do Infante (the association of lands of Henry the Navigator), namely Aljezur and Vila do Bispo, towards the establishment of a technical college and a new regional hospital.
Mário Soares, soon to stand again for the position of President of the Republic, praised Barroso’s work and asked that he be returned to office with an absolute majority.
