José Manuel Fernandes, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, announced that the government has launched a contest to support the construction of ponds and reservoirs with a value of 9 million euros.

According to the minister, it is an “important investment” with engineering works that “don’t exist in other parts of the world”. With José Fernandes further sharing “We are working to simplify and increase investment in order to store and then efficiently distribute water in a network that we want to be interconnected”.

José Manuel Fernandes emphasised in the notice that "Agricultural investment to improve environmental performance – Construction of ponds and reservoirs" will be made simpler.

According to the government official, this notice offers 75% support for investments up to 500 thousand euros and 70% for initiatives exceeding that amount, with applications being accepted until 15 January 2025.

The minister also pointed out that the Alqueva project, for instance, has created 24,000 direct jobs and contributes about 3.2 billion euros annually to our economy in agricultural production - the equivalent of Autoeuropa. As he explained, “Therefore, water means wealth creation, population retention, competitiveness, productivity, territorial cohesion and the commitment to water must be reinforced”.