“After 20 years, after eight foundation stones, the construction of the Central Hospital of the Algarve was finally approved today by this Government,” said the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, at the Council of Ministers press conference in Lisbon.

The Minister stressed that “today is a historic day for the people of the Algarve, for the Algarve region, and for the country.”

“[It is] more than €420 million of investment to be made in the project in a public-private partnership model, with a greater burden over the following 26 years, which we estimate in total for those 26 years at around €1.1 billion in total cost, due to the financial burdens over time,” the Minister stated.

Leitão Amaro stressed that, “finally, more than two decades after announcements, promises, first steps of intent (…) one of the most important works in health in Portugal will move forward and will happen”, underlining that the Central Hospital of the Algarve is “a dream of decades, a promise of so many” now realized with this decision today by the Council of Ministers.

The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, had already announced on Thursday, in the fortnightly debate in the Assembly of the Republic, that the Council of Ministers would “approve the resolutions for launching the tender for the construction of the new Algarve Hospital, a structural work that joins others such as the Hospital de Todos os Santos in Lisbon”.