Presidential candidate Paulo Morais is billed as the star guest of a toll-bashing debate to take place in Almancil on Friday, August 14.
Vehemently opposed to corruption, Morais will be joined by numerous regional names – all of them hotly opposed to tolls that they claim have damaged the region’s safety and economy.
Against a background of recent accidents – all billed by news services as having been caused by drivers avoiding the tolls – the debate will be held at Almancil’s Brasas & Vinhos restaurant and is open to everyone.
Called by CUVI – the group that has been fighting tolls since they began three years ago – it is due to start at 5pm and focus on the “ruinous” public-private partnership deals that characterise the toll system.
Other speakers will be Víctor Guerreiro, president of the Algarve retailers’ association (ACRAL), José Amaro, head of Faro’s Moto Clube and Reinaldo Teixeira, director of the Garvetur real estate company.
As CUVI explains: “There is a true state of war in the region with an average of 20 accidents per day, which means 600 per month and 7,300 per year, most of which are on the EN125 road” – the only alternative to the tolled A22.
This week there have been three deaths on Algarve roads, with two in yet another violent collision on the EN125 (click here: U-turn in heavy traffic behind latest deaths on EN125 between Lagoa-Porches).
