Madeira News Blog

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Tom … Monte wicker basket ride

Thanks to Pete for sending in this really interesting snippet : "A huge hydro-electric power plant 250 kms south-east of Lisbon in Portugal uses Alstom technology to combine and store wind and hydro energies. This plant has a capacity of 260 megawatts and supplies energy to 175,000 households. The reduction in CO2 emissions is the equivalent to removing 185,000 cars from the road". VIDEO

And thanks to Paul for these two snippets :

£70,000 to date from Jersey Appeal for Madeira disaster. “CUSTOMERS and staff at one of the Channel Islands’ biggest retailers have dug deep and raised nearly £19,000 for the Jersey Side by Side appeal for Madeira.

Around £70,000 has been raised by the appeal so far after flash floods devastated the Portuguese island almost a month ago, killing 42 people and leaving around 600 homeless. A massive £18,980 of the appeal total has been raised by Sandpiper CI, the company that owns the M&S franchise in Jersey, along with Safeway and Checkers, in just one week. The total, which was raised in both Jersey and Guernsey stores, includes £1,000 from Sandpiper’s management, while the rest came from fundraising events among staff and customer collections.”

Have you seen the Large White Butterfly? “The commission cited the Large White Butterfly from the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira, which has not been spotted for at least 20 years.” READ MORE           I can’t imagine who thought up the name for it? Der

Many thanks to Elaine once again for yesterday’s top news stories :

DIÁRIO 17/03/2010

FRONT PAGE NEWS

RTP, Sonae and Mota Engil rehabilitate the Serra d’Água. Those responsible for the RTP and Grupo Sonae solidarity campaign will meet tomorrow with the Governing Board of the Investimentos Habitacionais da Madeira (IHM), in order to determine which applicants should receive the donations. The campaign Together for Madeira (‘Juntos pela Madeira’) has raised 800,000 Euros already and the promoters have donated 1.5 million Euros, enough to build a small housing complex. Over one million phone calls were made in response to the RTP campaign, and the Sonae Group challenged thousands of Portuguese to round up their till receipts in Modelo, Worten and other stores in the group, a campaign that will continue until the 18th April. RTP is preparing a mega-program to be broadcasted on Sunday between 15.45 and 19.00 hours, also helping to promote the 7 Wonders of Portugal competition, in which the beach at Porto Santo and the Laurisilva forest are 2 of the 21 candidates. RTP is preparing a fundraising concert with one of the top Portuguese musicians. It will be transmitting the Flower Festival Parade and the program is to be dedicated to Madeira in solidarity with the reconstruction effort. It will include images of the cleaned baixa (lower) area of Funchal, without forgetting of course the strickened area of Serra d’Água. In the latter area, 25/26 houses need to be rebuilt, for which Mota Engil guarantees 1.2 million Euros on top of the donated 1.5 million Euros by the Sonae Group and RTP. A Portuguese company is offering 25 Teka kitchens, Tintas Dyrup is giving 25,000 litres of paint and Indutora will install the electrical wiring in the new houses. The company Paços de Ferreira is donating furniture. Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade Lusíada and the architect José Paradela are offering their services for free. Donations are deposited in a fund specially created by the Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa.

Joint Committee meets in the region over the next two days. The Joint Committee created by José Sócrates to assess the amount of damage and the best use of funding for the reconstruction work after the storm on February 20th, meets for the first time tomorrow. Representatives from the Government of the Republic arrive tomorrow in Madeira for two days to look at the destruction of houses, roads and other public infrastructure that occurred in the worst affected areas. The committee will not monitor the regional authorities. The members will rigorously assess the help needed, cost it and then formulate a framework of cooperation between the State and Regional Governments through the Special Law of Regional Finances. The committee will also prioritise the work and what needs to be done later.

MADEIRA

Beach walls are provisional. Santos Costa, the Regional Director for Social Infrastructure, replies to yesterday’s report about walls built in the middle of the beach of Porto Santo. He explained that the walls are only provisional, built to prevent damage by the abnormally violent storms that occurred from last November to February 20th.  The photo shows the threat that the government is attempting to alleviate and the technicians will be able to decide on a technically and environmentally desirable solution when the sea is calmer.

Humanitarian problems in Funchal. The Report of the USA about Human Rights in 2009 revealed that Portugal and the archipelagos have humanitarian problems, although there have been improvements in prison overcrowding. With regard to Funchal, the report highlighted a young offender imprisoned for eight months with convicted adults. This was despite a special prison (prison-school) in Leiria for young offenders between the ages of 16 and 21 years old.

Excessive police force. A car was badly parked in a prohibited area while the driver went into a shop. On returning, he found a a police officer was fining him and he exchanged ‘bitter’ words with the officer who then asked for reinforcements. Two police motorbikes and two patrol cars responded using sirens and the unresisting man was forced out of his car, searched and arrested. This was watched by angry witnesses, an elderly woman in the front seat and accompanied by screams from a child of approximately nine years old in the back of the car. The two passengers were also taken to the police station. The Regional Command of the Police has not yet responded to the questions of the DIÁRIO.

ECONOMY

Madeira – Paris / Orly from 58 Euros. The airline transavia.com starts the promotion today for the new routes between Funchal and Nantes. The first flights begin at the end of March and the French low-cost carrier offers a discounted price for journeys made between 1 April and 15 July. Travel between Porto and Funchal is from 38 Euros in both directions. For Nantes via Porto, flights start at 58 Euros one-way. The all-inclusive web reserve system is totally transparent. The promotional campaign includes the transport of 20 kg luggage in the hold and 5 kg in the cabin.

POLITICS

Court of Auditors stop work by the council. The Court of Auditors has stopped a road being built in Camacha by Santa Cruz Council. The road was to link the Caminho Municipal da Portela, by the old church of Camacha, to Mato Grosso. The work was financed by both the Regional Government and Santa Cruz Council but the contract did not stipulate details of the co-payments. In 2005, the Tribunal could not obtain assurances that the council could honour their financial commitment and the work was prohibited. The municipality wanted to build a bridge linking this road to Mato Grosso, where the population is of a significant size. They began to build the bridge then were ordered to stop by the Court of Auditors. During the last storm, retaining walls were washed away and earth deposited inside the bridge, threatening the flow of  the ribeiro Pedro Lourenço and houses downstream. A date for the completion of the bridge depends on an agreement being made.

UPDATES

British Embassy supports Centro Porta Amiga do Funchal. The British Embassy in Lisbon has decided to help the Centro Porta Amiga do Funchal after the disaster of February 20th. Financial assistance will be raised through the Sport Relief Mile event, organized by a British charity each year. The race takes place on the 20th March, starting at the promenade of Oeiras at 10.30 am and finishes at the beach of Santo Amaro. If interested in making a donation, contact the Embassy by phoning 213924035 or e-mailing kate.christie@fco.gov.uk

JORNAL DA MADEIRA

CULTURE

Show raises over 23,000 Euros. João Carlos Abreu, President of Criamar, the charity for the Social Development of Children and Young People, handed over 23,803.65 Euros to the Association of Development of Ribeira Brava. This will go towards the reconstruction of houses damaged on the 20th February. The money was raised by performances in Lisbon by Filipe La Féria and by "Juntos Renasceremos" (Together Reborn) in Funchal.

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

Valter puts in the drawer [postpones] the library of Farinha – It took 5 months and a change of presidents in Porto Moniz in order that the project might cease to be a priority.

Contest of the pharmacies drops a clanger – Opinion of the ANF hinders the process. Competitors protest.

Today’s main news headline : MP requires efficiency in the Madeiran Inland Revenue – The coordinator of services of the Public Ministry in the region devastates the leadership of Fiscal Affairs. The annual report reveals there is late notification in the establishment of inquiries, ‘investigation’ that is not worthy of the name, "almost total ineffectiveness" in fighting tax crimes. Ho, ho, ho, I wondered when someone would notice. Great people, and very helpful in my tax office, but efficiency doesn’t ooze in the IRS of Madeira. Whoever this guy is he will have to change a complete culture of local standards, rules, and behaviours. If successful, that would cause some considerable hardship in the Madeiran cash community. Can’t say anymore than that for fear of reprisals.

Taiwan send money through the deputies – Storm causes diplomatic embarrassment.

Christian democrat Party, CDS,  asks for a commission of enquiry, CDU shows sites in need of recuperation.

Increased number ‘signed on’ in the Employment Centre – Madeira registers the second highest increase in Portugal. The numbers increased throughout the country, except in the Azores. Nationwide, there was an increase of 19.6% comparing the last two Februaries, and a 0.2% rise on January 2010. From January to February this year, the number of those ‘signed on’ on Madeira increased by 3.8%.

The main sports / football headline today : Jardim’s plan for the European season is at risk – The famous meeting in preparation for a triumphant season for Marítimo did not result in a dynamic winner.

If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link. All contributions much appreciated. 

Many thanks to Elaine (West) for this heart-tingling story :

Saved from the rubble after almost 30 days. A dog was rescued alive yesterday in São Gonçalo during cleaning of the site. A unique situation for those who witnessed it. Yesterday morning, a group of employees of a company that specializes in building found a dog trapped beneath the debris resulting from the tragedy of the 20th of February during a cleanup operation in the area of São Gonçalo,. Nearly a month after the storm, to everyone’s surprise, the animal was healthy, but with its hind legs, preventing it escaping and fleeing the scene. The black cocker spaniel was helped by another dog, which faithfully kept him company. According to the DIÁRIO, the animal was freed by firefighters and taken to the Society for the Protection of Domestic Animals (SPAD), while the dog which had protected its friend ran behind the car. "It was a shame not to bring those two together, because they seemed to be great friends," said one worker on site. As the animal appeared to have been well looked after, there is every reason to believe that it has an owner and that he was caught by the flood. The dog was found yesterday morning around 10 o’clock, when a group of workers took over the clean-up operation by Palheiro Golf in São Gonçalo. After the initial cleaning, the workers returned yesterday to the site to continue the work. The DIÁRIO also tried to establish with SPAD the state of the animal, but was refused any access to information by the management.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–
If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and other material.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

(more…)

(20th June). Today’s main news headline ‘Electricity Doubles Production – EEM will spend €55 million to buy three groups of electrical-thingies that also guarantee less pollution’. The three things will be top of the range, and the ambitious investment plan upgrades the existing technology to ensure greater efficiency, and above all less pollution. The Electricity Company of Madeira (EEM) are banking on the new units to deliver around 300GWh to the island every year. They will have their own building in Socorridos called Nave III. The justification for the expenditure has been increasing demand, but also the need to maintain standards of safety and reliability. The existing equipment has had over 120,000 hours of operation, and at 30 years old is nearing the end of its useful life. I couldn’t translate the word ELECTROGÉNEOS but I was guessing that we are talking about some type of generator, but why would a generator on it’s own make less pollution, so it must be units that include motors and generators, and indeed steam turbines are mentioned. The units run on either oil or natural gas, and I naively thought that we were were trying to move more to renewable sources, which we have in abundance in the form of water, wind, and waves.

‘Social Housing With €9 Million In Overdue Debts – There are 803 debtors, beside the 358 tenants that are paying through liquidation arrangements. Others ask for rent reductions’. A recycled news story from a couple of months ago. There are 100 cases pending through the courts against tenants in arrears. The debts have been accumulating since 1978 when the government of Madeira developed new social policies, through what is a type of housing association (IHM). The value of €9 million includes arrears, interest and fines. An additional problem is that many families are totally unstructured, and don’t produce the necessary documents to enable the correct calculations and distribution of the rent due, often resulting in higher payments than should be necessary. Those who don’t pay are limited to action allowed by law, and that normally means that there are no reprisals other than to take steps to recover debts through the courts. IHM are also facing many more requests for rent reviews, where people are earning less or someone has lost their job, a situation which can take the rent down to as low as €20 a month (5% of the minimum wage).

‘Sacked Doctor That Refuses To Be Sacked – Different explanations for the exit of Henriqueta Reynolds the director of the anestesia service’. She was effectively fired yesterday by her boss and says she was "invited by the clinical director to resign" because he felt she was not achieving the goals he felt were important, but having a clear conscience on the work she has been doing, she decided not to go. Her boss said she did agree, and that her replacement had already been agreed during the conversation.

‘Francisco Jardim Ramos Available For Dialogue With Doctors And Nurses – Regional Secretary for Social Affairs tries to minimize complaints about the health service management stating that any change always causes dissatisfaction’. He met with the leader of the trade union that represents doctors yesterday, and told him that many of the changes taking place were national issues, and were not the doing of the Madeira management. He denied that there is widespread discontent amongst doctors and nurses, and said that the changes being made were to improve the service being given "taking into account the costs that it incurs with the provision of health care". Very delicately put Sir, and it’s true that changes always cause dissatisfaction, especially cost cutting changes.

Francisco Jardim Ramos also commented on the mosquito problem, and admits that the recent weather changes will provide well for the development of the mosquito ‘Aedes aegypti’, especially with the recent rains. The regional secretary for social affairs has prepared a program to prevent and combat the pest that will cost €400 thousand Euros.

‘Alexandre To The Champion In Santa Cruz – Spectacular victory with many spectators in the superspecial’. Alexandre Camacho won the first stage yesterday that marked the start of the XXVII Rally of the City of Santa Cruz. He completed the 1.98km course in 1 minute and 34.5 seconds, 1.1 seconds ahead of his nearest rival. The rally continues today, with the completion of eight special tests on a new track  that is worrying drivers and spectators because of the high population density in some parts.

‘Sound System Makes Racket In Ribeira Brava – The council agrees to a grant for the church, but the PS counsellor Rui Caetano, claims there are higher priorities’. There seem to be two stories intertwined here, but the PS counsellor Rui Caetano is furious that Ribeira Brava council supports giving a grant to the church at Campanário, that is currently undergoing a costly work of restoration and reconstruction. The new financial support is for a sound system costing €27,000. Socialist Rui says it is a scandal that the priest in Campanário is more concerned with a public address system than with the effects of the crisis that affects many families in his parish. "People are starving" and can’t even manage to pay for medicine he said. The response of the social democrat president of Ribeira Brava council admits the existence of higher priority needs, but justifies the expenditure as of "spiritual significance". That is so weird that last statement, I went back and double checked the translation elsewhere just to be sure. The issue of support for non-essential organisations here is something I have trouble comprehending, for example the huge amounts of money and other support given to Ribeira Brava football club. Surely expenditure of council funds has to either benefit the population of the area as a whole, or go to help the most needy, well before organisations such as sports clubs and the church get a handout (although I do recognise that funding sports clubs does have other beneficial spin-offs for the population as a whole).

(19th June). ‘Race For The Barracas For São Pedro – Sellers invest thousands of Euros for three days of guaranteed business’. Despite the crisis and the competition, more and more sellers are after the 100 or so spaces to erect their barracas (street stands) for the 3 day event. The base price for a prominent bbq space is €100, but bids in Monday’s auction for ‘food and drink’ stands went as high as €800 for top spots on the beach. Street sellers with the usual souvenirs, sweets, and plastic stuff from Korea etc. have to pay €4.71 per square metre per day to the council.