The BE party has argued for the need to improve the EN125 to “promote territorial cohesion” in the Algarve and has called on the Government to proceed with works along the road that represents the only alternative to using the A22 (Via do Infante).

“What is required is for the Government to proceed, as a matter of urgency, to rescue the concession and its definitive requalification”, said the party in a statement.

The same source stated that this is a “position that is also defended by all the Councils of the Algarve”, through the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL).

According to the BE party, the requalification contract for the eastern section of the Algarve would recover a project that was abandoned in 2013, when the government decided to just complete the requalification of the road in the west.

The party highlighted the section between Olhão Nascente and Vila Real de Santo António, which had only had an “emergency requalification, on a provisional basis, before the summer of 2018”, but warned that “these provisional patches are rapidly deteriorating” and what “truly matters is the urgent and definitive requalification of the road”.

The draft resolution “proposes the Government to promote the cohesion of the Algarve by rescuing the concession and requalifying the sections of the EN125 between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António”.

The party concluded that: “This whole situation, which has been aggravated by high tolls on Via do Infante (A22), which has in turn led to increasing traffic flow on the EN125, and has led to the road being very congested. This has led to suffering for those who use the road and also to great social and economic losses, particularly in relation to road accidents which result in many victims.

“During the last three years there have been more than 10,000 road accidents in the Algarve.). These numbers should shame the government and other political leaders”.