Mira Has Four Years to Complete Golf Course and Hotel in Praia

10 October 2017

The Mira town council has four years to complete a tourist resort on 37 hectares of Praia de Mira, failing which it has to return the woodlands to the Portuguese state, according to a decree published today.

At stake is the use of 37 hectares of woodland located south of the beach, just beyond the Secular Institute of the Holy Family (known as Casa de Santa Zita) for the construction of a hotel and a golf course.

The decree that regulates the exclusion and submission of areas to the partial forest regime and changes the end-use of plots located in the forest perimeter of Dunas and Pinhais de Mira was approved in August by the Council of Ministers and published today in the Diário da República.

In the decree, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development recalls that in 2007 the land had already been set aside for the construction of a tourist enterprise, but the project never took off.

“Due to the economic crisis, which significantly affected the construction sector, it was not possible to carry out the urban development project on schedule. Nevertheless, the Urbanization Plan for Praia de Mira remains, as well as the interest in the implementation of the tourist enterprise provided for in the document. These are the reasons why the reversion of the excluded area did not take place, and that justifies the bestowal of a new term of four years for the conclusion of the project, ” the Ministry explained.

Speaking to Lusa, Raul Almeida, the Mayor of Mira (re-elected with an absolute majority in the elections on October 1), revealed in August that the city would move ahead with an international public tender for the construction of the tourist enterprise, which is provided for in the Urbanization Plan for the beach area.

The decree published today creates new possibilities for investment in the area of tourism, defines the municipality’s forestry limits (established in 1917) and liberates 200 hectares of land in the parish of Seixo de Mira, where a new agricultural enterprise is to be set up.

In this case, as well, the municipality will have five years to create conditions for the installation of the agricultural production unit on the land. Otherwise, it will have to return the property to the state.

For now, the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests set aside 200 hectares of land located in the parish of Seixo, in the Foros area, on the way to Poço da Cruz beach.

In that area, where the famous greenhouses of French businessman Thierry Roussel (husband of the multimillionaire Christina Onassis) once stood, there are plans to set up a vast agricultural and livestock business, the investment of a leading company in the sector that will create a “large number” of jobs.

Once the deadlines have passed without the completion of the planned projects, the areas will be automatically reintegrated into the forestry perimeter of Dunas and Pinhais de Mira, and will also be subject to the partial forest regime, without reliance on a new publication decree of submission,” the Ministry warned.

Original Story: TSF Rádio Notícias – Lusa

Translation: Richard Turner