The Government of the Azores will invest 1.2 million Euros in the construction of a day nursery on Santa Maria with capacity for 50 children. With the construction of this infrastructures, all Azorean islands are provided with this social equipment.

The information was provided on Thursday by the Regional Secretary for Labour and Social Solidarity during the presentation ceremony of the preliminary study of that infrastructure which was presided over the President of the Government. 

The first day nursery of Santa Maria will be equipped with a nursery and a milk pantry, with capacity for 10 babies.

This infrastructure will also include a centre addressed at children aged between 1 and 2 with capacity for 20 children. It consists of an activity room and a dormitory.

Moreover, the building will also integrate a space for 20 children aged between 2 and 3, and administrative office, service facilities, technical areas for kitchen and laundry, staff room, sanitary facilities and changing rooms.

The project will also cover playground areas, activity rooms and a large multipurpose room that includes an old Chapel to be recovered.

In order to install the nursery, the existing ruins of two buildings will be renewed 400 years after their construction.

According to the Regional Secretary for Labour and Social Solidarity, even during the present term, the Government intends to start the construction of the São Pedro Day Care Centre, whose previous study has already been presented.

Expanding home support to weekends with the creation of a service in the village of Santo Espírito is another goal of the Azorean Government.

There are currently 56 day nurseries and kindergartens across the archipelago, covering almost 1500 children.

Between 1996 and 2009, the Government has invested over 91 million Euros in the expansion of the network of social services and equipments in the Azores. According to Ana Paula Marques, this investment has increased the number of social facilities in the Region, from 239 to 690, which corresponds to a growth of 289%.

For the Regional Secretary, this Government has invested nearly one million Euros per year in 10 cooperation agreements between the Santa Casa da Misericórdia and the Private Social Solidarity Institutions of Santa Maria.

On the occasion, Ana Paula Marques also appealed to the private sector to invest in the social sector because “there are financial mechanisms available for the creation of new social responses by private entities.”