The Regional Secretary of the Presidency assured at the Legislative Assembly on Friday that the Government of the Azores has no responsibility in the reconversion of the Horta Naval Radio Station.
The assurance was provided by André Bradford when discussing a draft Resolution, proposed by PSD, on the closure of that station which is installed on the island of Faial.
For the Regional Secretary, the social democratic proposal has no justification other than the station should remain on Faial.
André Bradford also reminded that this is not a new issue, adding that the reconversion of the Horta Naval Radio Station is at least over a year.
According to him, the Ministry of Defence wants to modernise and update a set of structures and services, including station installed on Faial under the new operational concept of NATO communications.
Under this concept, added André Bradford, the Horta Station is not adequate to the technical and infrastructural model to be implemented by the Navy in the future.
The Regional Secretary of the Presidency also said that the Horta Station is currently the only of six stations still in operation as the Apulia, Algés, Sagres, Porto Santo and Ponta Delgada stations have already been shut down.
He also stated that if some swift decisions had not been taken, there was even the chance that the Azores might lose the infrastructure that will replace the Horta Station.
For the Regional Secretary, this case was urgent because it we had the chance to ensure at least 50% of the NATO funding for the new station, whose project has a 13 million Euro budget.
André Bradford stressed that the allocation of financial support was dependent on finding a solution in the Azores that was compatible with the technological demands of NATO’s new strategic guidelines.