Jorge Veloso said that the situation occurs mainly in Lisbon and Porto, although this lack of interested parties is also occurring in other areas, such as Coimbra, where he is mayor.

“There are a lot of works that need to be carried out and companies are unable to do so, because there are many works to be carried out at the same time due to the Recovery and Resilience Plan [RRP], especially in the housing area”, he highlighted, emphasising that sometimes, depending on the value of the work, direct adjustments can be made, but even so, there are no companies with sufficient capacity to handle so much work.

The mayor highlighted that the problem has been occurring for some time, although it has worsened in recent months, “with all the rush to spend the money involved in the PRR”.

In addition to parish mayors, presidents of municipalities such as Braga, Ricardo Rio (PSD), report “alarming signs” about the current market conditions that could put at risk the fulfilment of deadlines associated with financing from European funds.

To mitigate the risks of tenders being left empty, the president of the northern municipality proposes setting base prices above market values, longer execution deadlines and a payment period of no more than 60 days.

It also advocates the adoption of construction systems that do not require significant technical specialisation, that is, the application of current market materials, thus avoiding the disruption of production chains and, above all, their supply time.

Rio also suggests the adoption of prefabricated and/or modular systems, “which also considerably reduces the need for outsourcing labour.”

The pressure from PRR works also affects areas such as Alentejo, where companies in the region, “as they are smaller and in private works do not have to deal with all the bureaucratic burden that the Public Contracts Code implies, prefer to work for private individuals, because it is simpler and they even have a higher profit margin”, stated the mayor of Montemor-o-Novo, in the district of Évora, Olímpio Galvão (PS).

The opinion is corroborated by the vice-president of the Loulé Chamber, in the Faro district, David Pimentel (PS). According to the mayor, there is “more demand for private works, which do not have as many rules and legal requirements to comply with as in a public tender, with the aggravating factor of the lack of labour, particularly specialised labour, to which is added the fact that context costs are higher in the Algarve, especially in housing”.