Carlos César urges for full use of economic potentialities of recreational boating areas
The President of the Government of the Azores stated today that the support areas for recreational boating activities in the Azores should not be regarded as “parking areas and leisure infrastructures,” but rather as “structures that should be used to generate wealth, bring added value, stimulate and motivate business opportunities with benefits for everyone on each of our islands.”
Carlos César spoke at the opening ceremony of the Recreational Boating Area of the Lajes port on the island of Flores, underlining that the improvement of the tourism offer, as a result of the Government’ investments in marinas and recreational boating areas, is not reduced to this simple, although expensive, redevelopment of port areas.
For the President of the Government, “it is an effort that extends to all the islands as well as to the population itself for what it can do in terms of hospitality, business and provision of correlated services.”
The Recreational Boating Area and the support multipurpose building, opened on Tuesday, are integrated in a set of infrastructures which have begun to serve the Flores population since the Government’s statutory visit to that island, such as the case of sports hall of the Maurício de Freitas School, the hyperbaric chamber at the Healthcare Centre and the local slaughterhouse. These investments have been carried with the purpose of improving the amenities and living conditions as well as boosting business opportunities that may help to overturn the population decline on that island.
The Recreational Boating facilities in Lajes das Flores, which represented an investment over nine million Euros, included the construction of a protection breakwater for the new mooring basin, about 100 metres long, and of a levelled ground designed for the hauling and parking of vessels.
Moreover, the floating structure includes 17 pontoons for vessels under 6 metres, 25 pontoons for vessels between 6 and 8 metres, 3 pontoons for vessels between 8 and 10 metres in addition to the main pier, which is 20 metres long and 4 metres depth. The pier adjacent to the protection breakwater, with a length of 55 metres and 4 metres depth, also allows the mooring of vessels over 10 metres in length.
The multipurpose building was designed to accommodate the various port services, including a passenger terminal with waiting room, ticket office, bar, sanitary facilities and luggage storage; technical and administrative services of the Asscociação Portos do Triângulo e Grupo Ocidental (APTO); Maritime Police office; warehouse to store the goods to be sent to Corvo as well as the goods received from that island.
According to Carlos César, this contract work and another one to be undertaken soon, for the expansion of the mooring berth, the construction of a workshop and a garage at the commercial port, the reinforcement of the breakwater head and the acquisition of equipments, represent a global investment of 13.9 million Euros.
With the new recreational boating area, the Azores will now have 1,860 mooring places, which will also provide “the adequate dimension that enhances the attractiveness of the Region in the context of supporting Atlantic crossings made by yachts.”
On the other hand, Carlos César believes that this investment clearly demonstrates “how we understand our maritime heritage and how we can take advantage of our central Atlantic position, either in the tourism industry, research or in the exploitation of natural resources.”
Moreover, concluded the President of the Regional Government, the challenges arising from expansion of the Portuguese continental shelf require “a great effort on a national scale,” as well as a close cooperation between national and regional authorities “so that our country and our Region may benefit as much as possible from this new reality.”