“We really need to justify opening an emergency competition so that [the work] is ready at the start of the bathing season”, said Maria da Graça Carvalho during a visit to this beach in Ria Formosa, in the district of Faro.

The minister was at Fuseta beach, as part of a technical visit by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), to “see the damage caused” by the latest storms that hit the Algarve coast.

The need to justify the opening of an emergency public tender to inject sand into the beach aims, according to the minister, to avoid a normal international tender “which could be delayed and not give time” for the work to be completed by the summer.

“Without emergency intervention, it will be difficult to have this ready for the beach season. From what we saw and the opinions of the technicians who were with us, we really have justification to move forward,” he pointed out.

The intervention includes dredging and the injection of around 150,000 cubic metres of sand to recover a 600-metre stretch of beach that is 30 metres wide.

The necessary funding has already been secured and has been transferred to the Portuguese Environment Agency, the entity responsible for leading the process, said the minister.

Maria da Graça Carvalho also admitted the need to intervene to resolve problems involving all the barrier islands of the Ria Formosa and other locations along the Algarve coast to combat coastal erosion.

According to the head of the Environment Department, a tender is currently underway for an intervention between Quarteira and Vale do Garrão, in the municipality of Loulé, covering a distance of 6.6 kilometres, at a cost of 14 million euros.

The works in Quarteira already have “a positive Environmental Impact Study, with one issue being finalized, which is the heritage license, so that the works can begin”, explained the minister.

At a more advanced stage, he indicated, is the intervention at Praia do Vau, in the municipality of Portimão, with the phase of opening proposals for the works estimated at two million euros currently underway.

The works to combat erosion on the Algarve coast are financed by community funds through the Sustainable Operational Program, he concluded.