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Almada Nascente Can Finally Take Off
9 September 2017
The Almada city council welcomed the legal conversion of the Margueira area, formerly called Lisnave, to urban use, as announced by the Portuguese government this week.
In a communiqué, the council revealed that “the decision, which we warmly welcome, creates conditions so that it can continue the process of contacts and negotiations with multiple national and international stakeholders. We seek investors for the economic and social development foreseen for the lands in question, within the framework of the Urbanization Plan of Almada Nascente-Cidade da Água, prepared and approved by the Municipality of Almada, published in the Diário da República, and in force since 2009. ”
On Thursday, the Council of Ministers approved the decree that removes the area from the Portuguese public water domain and integrates the area to the state’s private domain. The land includes an area belonging to the so-called Margueira lands and grants two portions of the public domain to Baía do Tejo (Tagus Bay), corresponding to Dock 13 and the recreation marina.
“Considering the continued degradation resulting from the shutdown and dismantling of the Lisnave shipyards, it was imperative to draw up and carry out an urban renewal project. The intent is to enhance the unique characteristics of the location and the social and economic worth of Margueira,” the Council of Ministers explained in a brief statement, recognising the allocation of lands of Margueira to urban use “as a project of national interest” for the government.
For the Almada town council, “this is a decision of great significance and impact for the municipality of Almada and for its inhabitants, allowing the development of a process to reverse the continued and progressive degradation of the territory of the old Lisnave Shipyards in Margueira, which is the most visible result of the decommissioning and dismantling of the once important industrial ship repair unit, that had been in operation for almost half of the last century.
The Government’s decision, the local authority added, “opens the door to the execution of the urban renewal project embodied in the Almada Nascente-Cidade de Água Urbanization Plan” and “strengthens” the exceptional conditions offered by that territory for economic and social development, due to its privileged location in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the largest estuary in Europe.”
“As the Municipality of Almada promoted and financed the preparation of the plan, which was carried out by an internationally renowned team led by the architect Richard Rogers, we see this step in the process of rehabilitating the territories of Margueira with great satisfaction, contributing to advancing the synergies necessary for the rehabilitation of the whole of southern Ribeirinho,” the municipality, located on the south bank of the Tagus, declared.
Together with Quimiparque in Barreiro and Siderurgia in Seixal, Margueira is a part of the Arco Ribeirinho Sul project, which provides for the regeneration of the three former industrial areas, in a project carried out by Baía do Tejo, part of the Parpública group of companies (owned by the Portuguese state). Baía do Tejo manages the territories located in Almada, Barreiro and Seixal.
There is already a pre-defined regeneration plan for the territory of Margueira, called the Almada Nascente plan. The president of the Almada municipality, Joaquim Judas, has already stated that there are interested parties. “The Almada Nascente plan is well-known, and there are interested parties, including Chinese, English, French and North American companies. The territory also does not have great problems with soil contamination,” the mayor of Almada affirmed at the beginning of the year.
Original Story: Diário Imobiliário / LUSA
Translation: Richard Turner