The requalification of the second section of IP8/EN121 between Ferreira do Alentejo and Beja will advance and includes the construction of a bypass in Beringel, which will remove hundreds of trucks from the city center.
Sixty-four million euros and 540 days later, even without the construction of the highway 26 (A26) between Sines and Beja, the so-called Baixo Alentejo Subconcession (SBA), the requalification of the two sections of the so-called Main Itinerary 8 (IP8), between Santa Margarida do Sado and Ferreira do Alentejo, the municipal headquarters, and this last location is Beja, can bring a new reality to 37,5 kilometers in the region's accessibility.
The populations of the municipalities of Beja and Ferreira do Alentejo, do not forget the decision of the Government of Pedro Passos Coelho, when in September 2011, the then Secretary of State for Public Works, Sérgio Monteiro, recognized the suspension of SBA works due to “difficulties” in financing the consortium to which the State would be “totally unrelated”. A year later, Estradas de Portugal announced the decision not to build the highway because it was “a technical mistake”, because “the expected traffic did not justify the creation of a highway”, having been spent until then 35 million.
Yesterday, among Portugal's Infrastructures (IP) and the consortium, J.J.R Constructions. & Children, SA and Tecnovia-Sociedade de Empreitadas, Lda, the consignment contract for the second section of IP8/EN121 was signed, between Ferreira do Alentejo and Beja, about 22,5 kilometers, an investment 33,6 million.
According to a statement from IP, to work, between the EN2 roundabout in Ferreira do Alentejo and the airport roundabout, in Beja, “there was today (yesterday) beginning” and is included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and its main objective is to “improve circulation and safety conditions, between the two locations, through the structural improvement of the section and also the urban crossing of Beringel, with the construction of a variant”, justify.
No document, the company responsible for managing roads in Portugal, adds that “the construction of the Beringel Variant, it will have a profile of two lanes in each direction and uneven restorations and interconnection with the existing twist.”, adding to IP that this project “will contribute to the improvement of road connections in the region”, conclude.
The Lidador News (LN) found that the contract signed between IP and the consortium states that the route to be reclassified will be created “to introduce a wildlife crossing and a barrier to elevate the flight of birds”, without realizing what it really is about.
The construction of the Beringel Variant, county Beja, was defined in the so-called Baixo Alentejo Subconcession, and is considered “essential for the safety of people and property, since it is crossed daily, in both directions between Spain/Beja-Lisbon, by two hundred trucks”, started by telling LN, the president of the Parish Council of that locality.
VĂtor Besugo revealed that around us 600 meters of road crossing of the village, “In this olive campaign we have already had almost a dozen trucks spilling olive pomace onto the road and much worse, into the houses”, finished.
Turn, the Mayor of Beja, that is present at the signing of the contract, defended that the works “are extremely important for us to have good and safe access to the A26/A2. It was the culmination of work carried out over the last six years by several entities, local authority included”, Paul justified Arsenic.
For a few weeks now, requalification works have been underway on the EN259 section, between Santa Margarida do Sado and Ferreira do Alentejo, with connection to the roundabout on the A26 section, Grândola Sul/Malhada Velha, which includes the construction of a variant in Figueira de Cavaleiros, a section of 15 kilometers, where will they be invested 30,5 million.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
