Marta Guerreiro ensures Regional Government’s intervention whenever necessary to ensure the safety of populations and reduce risks associated with water resources
The Regional Secretary for Energy, Environment and Tourism stated today that the Government of the Azores will always take action to ensure the safety of populations and mitigate possible risks associated with water resources, highlighting the works in the bridge of Ribeira da Lomba stream, municipality of Povoação.
"This is an investment of nearly 380 thousand Euros. The works have been carried out over the last nine months and were intended to replace the existing bridge, which was in poor conditions following the intense rainfall of 2010. This weather event caused an abnormally abundant flow of Ribeira da Lomba stream that uncovered the foundations of the bridge,” said Marta Guerreiro at the opening of the new bridge.
"Due to the weaknesses of the foundations, the bridge became unstable, posing danger to its users. In view of this situation, the Regional Government demonstrated its commitment to an intervention intended to safeguard the safety of the community,” stressed the government official.
The Regional Secretary pointed out that this new bridge is located about 10 metres downstream of the old one and is equipped with a platform with enough width to accommodate two traffic lanes and a footpath, thus improving the characteristics of the route.
In her speech, Marta Guerreiro recalled that, following the bad weather of 2010, which caused the partial collapse of the protection wall, located upstream, “the Government has carried out an emergency intervention aimed at the management of traffic, with the construction of a wall that narrowed the road platform.”
The Regional Secretary also noted that the Government of the Azores has increasingly allocated financial resources to water resources, quadrupling the corresponding budget appropriations since 2012. In this regard, the “Plan for 2017 allocates an overall amount of eight millions Euros to these interventions.”
“This is investment that makes us proud insofar as the safety of people and the value of human life are priceless,” said Marta Guerreiro.