According to the municipality the contract to allow navigability between Alcoutim, in the district of Faro, and Pomarão, in the municipality of Mértola, district of Beja, will be concluded by the end of this month, “allowing safe day and night navigation” on that international section of the river.


The contract for the maritime dredging and marking works to allow navigability in the international section of the Guadiana between Alcoutim and Pomarão was signed on 12 July this year, in a ceremony at the Pomarão Interpretation Centre that was attended by the then Minister of the Sea, Ana Paula Vitorino.


At the time, the minister said that the contract, budgeted at €611,925, corresponds to the third phase of the project to allow the navigability of the Guadiana between Vila Real de Santo António and Mértola, which will cost €6 million and should be completed in 2021.


As part of the project, under the responsibility of the General Directorate of Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM), two phases have already been carried out, which made it possible to navigate two international areas of the Guadiana, the area between the entrance of the Vila Real de Santo António bar and the international bridge and the section between Vila Real de Santo António and Alcoutim, in the Algarve.


In a statement, the Alentejo council said that the next phase in the restoration of navigability conditions in the Guadiana will focus on the exclusively Portuguese section between Pomarão and the town of Mértola.