"When will the Government honour its commitment to launch the tender for the new Algarve Central Hospital?" asked the deputies elected by the Socialist Party (PS) in the Algarve, quoted in a statement.

According to the statement, the technical committee monitoring the project was appointed on April 5, 2023, 923 days ago, 560 of which "have been since the AD Prime Minister took office."

The Socialists also questioned the Government about why the 2026 State Budget report does not mention "any reference to the launch of the tender for the construction of the Algarve Central Hospital."

"Enough delaying tactics to postpone the Algarve Central Hospital," stressed Luís Graça, president of the Socialist Party Algarve Federation, quoted in the note.

The MP noted that the process for the new hospital was completed during the transition period from the Socialist Party government, led by António Costa, to the AD government, led by Luís Montenegro.

"Don't waste any more time. Launch, without further delay, the tender for the construction of the new Algarve Central Hospital. Yesterday was already too late," urged the leader of the Socialist Party Algarve.

For the Socialists, instead of launching the construction of the Central Hospital, the Government "seems to be busy appointing new people to a mission structure that has considered its work completed since June 2024."

According to the Socialist Party, on October 30, 2024, the coordinator of the mission structure declared at a hearing of the Parliamentary Health Committee that the Government had met all the technical conditions to open the tender for the public-private partnership to build the new hospital since June 2024.

Promises

Prime Minister Luís Montenegro announced on August 14, at the traditional Pontal Festival, that the construction of the Algarve Central Hospital would begin "at the latest by the beginning of October," with an investment of 800 million euros.

At the event marking the PSD's political "return" on the Quarteira promenade in Loulé, in the Faro district, Luís Montenegro specified that the structure, which will operate under a public-private partnership, should begin construction in early 2027 and begin operations in 2030.

"By the beginning of October at the latest, we will launch the international competition for the construction of the Algarve Central Hospital under a public-private partnership," the Prime Minister said at the time.

For the Social Democratic leader, this procedure will allow, "with all subsequent steps, the start of construction to correspond, more or less, to the beginning of 2027 and the hospital to begin operations in 2030."