Live from downtown Alcácer do Sal, which is once again being flooded by the rise of the Sado River and the rain, the Prime Minister announced, this Thursday, a new and “major recovery and resilience program for Portugal, so that we can reach the entire territory”, a support package that is “exclusively” Portuguese. Luís Montenegro named it “PTRR”. He did not reveal the value of the package, something that is still being studied.
Surrounded by members of his staff, and after hearing complaints from some businesspeople, traders and people about the support that is taking a long time to reach the ground, the prime minister promised that the release of the “treasury lines”, which will be channeled through the banks, will be quick.
And he asked local authorities to carry out the necessary “inspections” as soon as possible in order to provide support to companies and people who really need it most.
And, it was here that Montenegro took the opportunity to pull out the new Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), which it called “PTRR”, a package that will last “years” and that will try to respond to the ongoing climate tragedy, which destroyed bridges, roads, a part of the A1 highway (from Brisa), houses, commercial companies, industries, agricultural fields, livestock farms, poles and high voltage lines, etc.
“It is not yet the day to be able to announce to the country exactly the plan we have in mind for the coming years in Portugal, but I can already say that today [quinta-feira] We already had a very in-depth reflection in the Council of Ministers and I gave guidance to all ministries to design a great recovery and resilience program for Portugal, so that we can reach the entire territory”, said the head of government at Beira Sado.
“I understand the calls that are made to place certain territories within the scope of the calamity situation in a contingency situation [nível mais grave]but I want to say, so that there is no doubt, that no one will be forgotten”, promised the PM.
Therefore, he continued, “we are going to have a national response to a problem that affected the entire territory, evidently with particularities in some of these territorial spaces”.
“We will have a PTRR, a Portuguese recovery and resilience program, exclusively Portuguese, so that we can emerge from this succession of adverse events stronger, more resilient, socially recovered, recovered from the point of view of economic dynamics, to reinvigorate our economic performance.”
The plan, of which the value has not yet been disclosed, will allow, says Montenegro, “an action that is absolutely essential on the most critical infrastructures, basic infrastructures, roads, railways, electricity supply, water supply, public services”.
“We face a huge challenge in the coming years to be able to recover and also to become more resilient in the face of a possible repetition of this or other phenomena of equal severity”, he warned.
The Portuguese PRR, which is financed by European funds and was launched by the European Commission to help countries recover from the destructive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, will last only four years, with its implementation necessarily ending in August this year.
This ongoing PRR is valued at 22 billion euros. The new one is not yet known.
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