Political group Nós, Cidadãos has suggested that the interminable roadworks ongoing along the EN125 have been used to benefit property speculation.
The consensus is that a number of roundabouts constructed give access to dirt tracks – increasing the values of any properties that may be found along them.
“There is nothing wrong with buying and selling land”, the political commission of the Algarve branch of Nós, Cidadãos says in a statement.
“What is wrong is the trafficking of influences and the manipulation of information for private benefit, once again placing the Algarve under enormous pressure and speculation in detriment to the region’s real interests”.
As the group explains, five years ago, the original plan to upgrade the over-stretched EN125 involved the construction of around 60 roundabouts and two by-passes.
With progress stymied for years, roadworks really only got going in 2015, “with a very much cheaper and altered overall plan”.
“Various questions” have since been raised – not least the construction of roundabouts with access to dirt tracks, said the statement.
The issue is “unclear and not very transparent”, and according to the group it is time to “stop abusing the Algarve and Algarvians”, particularly as the roadworks ongoing during the summer will serve only to line the pockets of concerns behind the A22 Via do Infante motorway.
