The Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, said this Friday, February 27, that the removal of trees felled by bad weather is a priority for the Government before the fire season, and the executive is working on this matter.
“About the trees that were cut down and that are there in the forests of the Central region, above all, it is obviously a huge danger if these trees are on the ground during the hot season, during the season when there are usually fires”acknowledged the minister.
At a press conference in Évora, in the middle of the Territorial Concertation Council (CCT) meeting, the minister was questioned by journalists about the need for immediate actions to clean up forests to which the Government alluded in the presentation of the PTRR (Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience).
Regarding what will be done, given the approach of the most difficult period of the summer for forest fires, Castro Almeida indicated that the Minister of Agriculture, José Manuel Fernandes, “has this issue as a major priority”.
“The financial means have already been identified and, in fact, there is legislation that will allow entry through private land to be able to lift this wood that is currently felled”he revealed.
Therefore, he emphasized, “It is a concern of the Government, the Minister of Agriculture is very aware of this difficulty and is determined to resolve the matter before the fire season arrives”.
When asked about the topic of regionalization, Manuel Castro Almeida reiterated arguments already mentioned by the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, who also participated in the beginning of the CCT meeting and presided over the inauguration of the five new presidents of the country’s regional coordination and development commissions (CCDR) in Évora.
“What this Government is committed to is combating the centralism that the country still has” and there are two ways to follow this path: “Through decentralization for the municipalities and deconcentration for the regions”more precisely for the CCDR, he said.
In addition to the Prime Minister and Manuel Castro Almeida, the CCT meeting was attended by the ministers of Infrastructure and Housing, Health, Environment and Energy, Culture, Youth and Sports and Agriculture and Sea and five secretaries of State, as well as representatives of mayors and other entities.
The CCT is the political body that promotes consultation and consultation between the Government and the different regional and sub-regional political entities, at regional, sub-regional and local levels.
The PTRR – Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience, already approved by the Council of Ministers, is, according to the Government, a response program to the climate catastrophe that devastated several regions of mainland Portugal between January 28th and February 15th, and which aims to prepare the country “for a safer, more resilient and competitive future.
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