Paulo Fernandes, coordinator of the Mission Structure for the Reconstruction of the Center of the Country, admitted this Thursday, March 5, that municipalities could receive, as early as next week, an advance to cover the damage caused by bad weather.
“Next week we hope that part of the money can be distributed to the municipalities in terms of assistance, which may, in fact, already be at an advanced stage. The municipalities are still making their own withdrawals and it will last a few weeks, in some cases perhaps even a few months”, he highlighted.
Paulo Fernandes’ announcement was made during the presentation of the Municipal Recovery and Transformation Program “Renascer e Avançar Pombal”, which took place at the end of the morning, in the Paços do Município de Pombal, district of Leiria.
In his speech, the Mission Structure coordinator explained that the evaluation of all critical areas, in terms of cost, will still take a few weeks or even, in some cases, months to be carried out.
“But, we are already seeing how we advance and put resources: as is being done with companies, it can also be done with municipalities”, he added.
The former president of the Fundão City Council hopes that next week there will be “a very significant advance”, guaranteeing that the Government, as well as the Mission Structure, inter-municipal communities, municipalities and the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities are all “working towards this” and for “this to accelerate”.
On the sidelines of the presentation of the Municipal Recovery and Transformation Program “Renascer e Avançar Pombal”, Paulo Fernandes also clarified that some municipalities asked to extend, until Friday, the collection of data relating to the damage, which should have taken place until last Tuesday.
“With this data and reflection on the criteria, I would say that the advance could be made at the end of next week, even before a very fine analysis of everything that is being sent, because there will be thousands of shares and it will take some time before it can be done, in the different CCDR [comissões de coordenação e desenvolvimento regional] carry out a very fine analysis of everything that was sent”, he indicated.
According to the former mayor, the advance payment criteria for municipalities, for which “there are around 150 million euros available immediately, are not yet finalized and will be “very carefully considered”.
Eighteen people died in Portugal following the passage of depressions Kristin, Leonardo and Marta, which also caused many hundreds of injuries and displacement.
The total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, the fall of trees and structures, the closure of roads, schools and transport services, and the cut of energy, water and communications, floods and floods are the main material consequences of the storm.
The Centro, Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and Alentejo regions were the most affected.
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