Madeira News Blog

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Tom … Via rápida bridge over Funchal

"Thought you may find this of interest.  Madeira’s isolated areas with Internet may be solved, with this new technology … Pete".

"Life the other side of the Island" … Pete VIDEO HERE

"Close to nature" … Pete ROOTS OF A PEOPLE

"This may be more interesting about a slooper that got involved with Madeira fort in 1825.  You can delete old story if you like, if it been used before" … Pete HERE

                             FUNCHAL

BEFORE AND AFTER

Thanks Pete, and Tom for the extra photos, 4 snippets from Elaine (East), many thanks …

Island Escape is the cruise ship based in Funchal that cruises the Canary Islands. Cruise passengers to sue over norovirus outbreaks. Hundreds of British holidaymakers are planning legal action against Thomson Holidays and Fred Olsen Cruise Lines after several outbreaks of gastric illness on the cruise ships Island Escape and Boudicca. HERE

Highlighting the new golf course complex at Ponto do Pargo as a good investment. Is it time to invest in golf property in Madeira? HERE

Interview with a wine writer. But life continues and so does our stay in Madeira. Half of the trip’s 36 days are now spent and what we’ve experienced so far are almost hard to understand. Treated like kings I am overwhelmed by the Madeiran’s generosity and the wine’s they produce! I thought I had tasted some great wines on the noble grapes but so far I’ve been tasting wines that now are new reference points for me – especially exceptional Boal’s from 1903, 1920 & 1922 from Pereira d’Oliveira and Blandy’s. HERE

Above website led me to his other blog Mad about Madeira. A salute to a classic wine HERE

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

DIÁRIO 14/03/2010

FRONT PAGE NEWS

‘War of the stones’ divides government and mayors. It is a scene of war that is causing eruptions within the government. Companies had been ordered to transport stones and other materials deposited by the floods to the Marina do Lugar de Baixo, but the Regional Secretary for Social Infrastructure thought this decision was dubious. In the Ribeira Brava Council and different departments of the Regional Government, there are suspicions that the deposits at the marina were just to solve the significant cost of building a protecting breakwater. The Mayor of Ribeira Brava is reluctant to withdraw the inert materials from the mouth of the streams as he wants them for later use in the county. For a long time the mayor has wanted an extension to the promenade between Ribeira Brava and Tabua. Using the deposited material for this construction would end the landslides onto the coastal road, provide landfill and a wall, and create a new promenade that links the two areas. The initial order to transport all the material to the marina will not be met as Santos Costa has made it clear that the material should be used for constructing retaining walls around streams and for roads, then any remaining deposits sent to the marina. In Serra de Água, Ribeira Brava, Tabua and Madalena do Mar, small contractors have been withdrawing stones from the streams for one or two large companies, at the request of the government. This has led to a complaint from the Mayor of Ponta do Sol, who opposes the policy of Santos Costa. It is doubtful it the government will pay for the large construction companies removal of this material which has great commercial value. The Mayor of Funchal, Miguel Albuquerque, has to find finances for losses of 200 million Euros. Miguel Albuquerque fell out with the government when Funchal Council would not join the new firm Água e Resíduos da Madeira. The council will now have to independently finance the repair of the sanitation and water supplies. Miguel Albuquerque’s challenging independent stance, and the public praise for the decision to store the deposits on Praia Formosa and Carreiras, might cause shock waves in the future (Jardim’s replacement).

Segadães said that "cheap becomes expensive". Problem: Some bridges collapsed and others were flooded. Solution: Build bridges above street level and pedestrian-only bridges in urban areas. Structural engineers have a role in the reconstruction of Madeira in the post-storm of February 20th. An alternative route is needed over the Ribeira de João Gomes (between Alto da Pena and Rochinha). One proposal is a flyover at Campo da Barca linking Rua Santiago Menor and cota 40. What is agreed is that bridges will not have to be affected  by any future flooding from the streams in lower Funchal or Ribeira Brava.  Arched bridges with support pillars in the streams are now known to be unsuitable. Funchal needs more pedestrian bridges to allow better traffic flow and roundabouts should not be built over streams. Antonio Segadães Tavares designed the award winning extension to the airport runway. He said he does not share the idea that the flood was a new event to the region but was a bit more than others. We need to learn from the flood and that "cheap becomes expensive". The vice-president of Funchal Council said it is now essential to have the Viaduto da Cota 120 – a second crossing over the Ribeira de João Gomes. The president of the regional section of the Ordem of Engineers said there is a difficult cost-benefit equation. Bridges above street level are ten times more expensive than those at street level. The visual impact is also important.

MADEIRA

Court recognizes owners of Urbanization VIP. In the litigation case, the court recognizes that the owners of these houses are entitled to take part in the proceedings. The nine town houses that constitute Urbanization VIP were licensed in 2002 by Funchal Council. They were then the target of a class action, having been built on an ‘urban green area’ as outlined in the PDM. In 2006, their construction and licensing were ruled illegal although some houses were already inhabited. The council then included them in the new Urban Plans for the area and the promoter ‘Conselheiro -Actividade Imobiliária, Lda.’ appealed to the court to revoke the interim decision. The judge dismissed the claim. In 2008, the council tried to resolve the dispute by issuing a licence but again this was ruled illegal. The home owners produced legal documents to prove they had acted in good faith but the court rejected their claim to be interested parties. This latter decision has now been overturned.

30 families waiting for a new home. More than 30 families are living in precarious conditions in Rua do Poço Barral, São Martinho. The rooms were already in a poor state before the bad weather this winter. They know there are others in worse conditions, such as those made homeless, but ask the authorities not to forget them. The houses were built illegally over thirty years ago. There are leaks, crumbling ceilings, cracked walls and constant damp. Their clothes and the house contents smell mouldy. The owners have delivered documented evidence to Funchal Council who said they would relocate the residents to solve the problem. The authorities insist they will rehouse the most needy first, although they do recognize that the situation is problematic.

ECONOMY

Biomass will not solve forest fires. The Regional Director of Forestry is not convinced the region will benefit from the installation of a new biomass plant in Santo da Serra. He has doubts about the operation of the plant and its impact on the Madeiran forests. Nutroton Energias want to build this plant. They have invested in renewable energy in Porto Santo and obtained a licence for the installation of large solar panels at Caniçal. A biomass plant is only profitable if the material for burning has a diameter more than 8 centimetres, whereas most of the undergrowth causing forest fires is of a smaller diameter. Thus, the Regional Director thinks the plant will not solve the problem of forest fires. The Department of Forestry is there to protect and promote the forests, so needs to know beforehand if any timber is to be felled. To cause deforestation in order to produce energy is not reasonable. 60% of forests are on private land and the owner’s permission is needed for logging. Raw material for biomass combustion is cheaper if it is imported, as it is difficult to access land in Madeira because of the topography of the island as opposed to the Continent. Imported wood needs to be free from pests. If the process leads to better forests, it is welcomed. An expert said that a biomass plant is only useful if revenue is taken from both heat generated (70%) and electricity produced, as if only electricity is provided the income drops to 22%.

Data on forests in Madeira.

59,000 hectares of forests, half of which is natural forest.

16,000 hectares could be used for biomass, or 153 tons of trees.

Calheta has the largest area of forests in the region.

Bush and herbaceous plants occupy 24,000 hectares of the forests.

POLITICS

Court detect illegalities in the accounts of MPT. After the accusations, Ismael Fernandes now produces his evidence at the Constitutional Court. He alleges that irregularities in the accounts of the electoral campaign for the last regional elections were committed by the Earth Party and its financial agencies. He was the former president of the MPT and justifies his actions: he did not notice the dates when he sent the bills to the accountant; lacked experience and did not act in bad faith. The MPT failed to submit to the Constitutional Court a statement of campaign revenue and expenses. The audit identified expenses amounting to 16,923.90 Euros, supported by invoices issued after the election, which cannot be considered campaigning expenses.

More later maybe … especially if someone would be kind enough to contribute something …

—————————————————————————————————————————————–
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…)

A couple more old bus photos taken from the photographic exhibition in Ribeira Brava. The photos don’t have any commentary, so I have no idea when they were taken, or when these fine vehicles were last in service.

I mentioned last week that I had received in the post the AKI Xmas catalogue, full of Christmas decorations, and not much else. The IZI equivalent arrived this week, again packed with Xmas decorations, but also a lot of ideas for gifts also. Lots of DIY stuff and power tools for men, and gardening tools and equipment too, so I have my preferences picked out. However when I paged through again to look for Xmas presents for the ladies, I couldn’t find any kitchen items at all, nor cleaning equipment, or ironing boards or suchlike. In fact there was nothing household at all, so is the IZI store really like this? Is this part of a worldwide conspiracy against men, as I had hoped that maybe I had left this attitude behind years ago?

Following an article a couple of days ago, it seems that RTP Azores has employed a journalist of mixed origin and language skills to provide news stories in English. TAKE A LOOK

One for the MADEIRA WINE buffs.

Tough games for our local football teams this weekend. Both games are on Sunday. Firstly Nacional visit Leixões at 4 pm, but the hosts are not as good as they were last season, so a bit of a chance of a result. At 6 pm, Marítimo host the big name of Porto (SportTV1), who aren’t playing that well this season, having changed their style of game somewhat.

Have a good weekend! 

Another whacking great contribution from Elaine from yesterday, many thanks … is no one else going to help?

TAP cheaper than Easyjet. D.Cidade looked at the websites of both carriers for prices of flights leaving Funchal on the 28 December and returning from Lisbon on the 2nd January (end-of-year celebrations). Easyjet, advertised as a budget airline, lowest inclusive price was 450.98 Euros. If the return flight was on the 1st January, the total was 362.98 Euros, i.e. 88 Euros less. TAP for 28 December to 2 January was 399.91 Euros which is 51.07 Euros cheaper than Easyjet. If returning on the 1st January, TAP website price was 334.91 Euros which is 28.07 Euros cheaper than Easyjet.

Drugs killed 19 in four years. Between 2005 and 2008, 19 people died in Madeira due to illicit drug use. The actual number is probably higher as the official figures only account for those who died after hospitalization, i.e. not those who died outside the hospital setting.  The European Monitoring Centre report indicated a 45% increase between 2006 – 2007 in drug overdose deaths in Portugal due to an increase in cocaine use. Of the 314 who died, 91% were male. In Madeira, according to the Director of Drug Prevention, "The average age of first drug use is lower than the national average, as is the percentage of consumers per number of residents." In 2001 in Madeira, 8.6% of the population consumed drugs at least once, and in 2006 this had fallen to 5.2% compared to the national average of 12%. Prevention is focused on the individual rather than the drug consumed.

A 25 and 34 year old couple detained today for trafficking 24,300 doses of heroin. The wife is Portuguese and the husband a foreigner. They already have criminal records.

Madeiran computer usage above the national average. In Madeira, 58.3% of households have a computer at home and 49.7% have Internet connection, mainly through broadband. The only place in Portugal to exceed this number is Lisbon where 60% of households have a computer. Nationally, 9% of items bought are over the Internet but only 7% in Madeira, despite the fact it is an island. The majority of orders were for travel, accommodation, holiday-related services, computer software and electronic equipment. Most users are between 16 and 54 years, especially under 34 years of age and 51% are male. —- Could be low sales due to unavailability as many Portuguese sites will not deliver here and costly in postage, or people shop when they fly to Lisbon.

Stolen condoms machine! A condoms vending machine was stolen from outside a pharmacy in Santana early one morning, without witnesses.

Parliament using a law that no longer exists. The Socialist Party MP Jacinto Serrão accused Parliament of "negligence" in relation to a matter  of "utmost importance for the region". The Regional Government sent a report to Parliament on participation in the European Region. The application of EU funding and participation in EU programs presented to Parliament was under a legislative decree, which is based on a national law which does not exist. The law was repealed three years ago and replaced by another one which is more favourable to the Autonomous Regions. Under this new amendment, Parliament could comment on anything that came from Brussels, so this later law needs adopting.

Hybrid and electric cars will have cheaper parking. From January 1st, car parking in Funchal will be half price for such cars. 150 places will be created for these cars, which is 10% of all parking where parking meters are used. These spaces will be in Aljube, Hospital Velho, Avenida do Mar and the zone of Ajuda, and other areas. The owners of such cars will have to obtain a green sticker from Funchal Council to put on their windscreens. Such areas are reserved only for ecological cars or there will be a none-parking fine applicable. The meters will have two buttons, one for the normal tariff and a green one.

There will also be more parking spaces for motorcycles as there are more bikes up to 125 cc after the change in the law which allowed Category B licence holders to use vehicles up to 125 cc and 11 kw of power, This is to abolish the abusive parking which is occurring, for example when walking by Edificio 2000.

Maintenance of ‘Lobo Marinho’ will be in Madeira instead of Spain or Portugal. Annual maintenance work will be at Caniçal and prevent the ferry from sailing 16 trips between  12 – 30 January 2010. The decision needed a special permit and will employ 20 local workers from 6 companies. Cargo (fresh produce) will go twice a week via SATA flights, and the Porto Santo Line ferry will refund the difference in the air fare for residents on either island who have to fly.

French tourism promotional campaigns have worked. In October, there was a promotional campaign in Madeira for 150 French travel agents and journalists. SATA have also promoted the island. Madeira now features in some holiday brochures and between them, ‘Top of Travel’ and ‘Voyages Internacionaux’ have brought 800 French tourists here and they hope to double that number next year. The sale of Aigle Azur flights from Paris have exceeded expectations and if this continues, they will increase the frequency next summer.

Government not honouring its debts to contractors. The liquidity problems of the Region, justified by the Government reducing state transfers  and the prohibition of use of new bank loans, is causing havoc in dozens of the companies that provide services to the Region. The Government has 25 year contracts under part-private partnerships with Vialitoral and ViaExpresso for construction and operation of new roads. This year, the Region owes Vialitoral 58 million and ViaExpresso 25 million. Over the past three years, there has been failure in paying some of the money to the companies so they cannot pay back the bank loans, which accumulate interest, and this should be met by the Government. The Regional Government is awaiting permission to pay this debt under a program created by the Portuguese Government. The Government of Madeira initially received 574.2 million Euros for the projects and they pay ‘virtual tolls’ ranging between 0.1 and 0.2 cents for each vehicle on the roads. Over the contractual 25 years, they will pay 1,825 million Euros, varying between €38 million in 2002 and €100 million in 2015.

As Der mentioned, other complaints of non-payments. The SIRAM group of companies who installed the Christmas illuminations are irregular in payments to workers, especially for holiday bonuses from June / July and overtime.

Warning for travellers to Cabo Verde. The Portuguese Government has issued a warning about dengue fever carried by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Since October, due to the outbreak of dengue fever in Cabo Verde, there have been 6,700 cases and 4 deaths. People travelling there have been advised to take special care. IASAÚDE is aware of the problem and last year when there was a similar problem in Brazil, special precautions were taken in Madeira. Travellers are advised to be vaccinated against yellow fever and use insect repellents. If a person shows symptoms, they are sent to the Service of Communicable Diseases for diagnosis. Since the mosquito has been identified on Madeira, care has been intensified.

Surveillance will tighten on Market Night. The street vendors will have to comply with hygiene standards and the space allocated to them. They have to pay a deposit before the event which is not refunded if the area is not kept clean. Extra litter bins and containers are provided but not always used. Last year, 18 stallholders were fined an average of 50 Euros, totalling 900 Euros. From the 10th December, there will be an increase in waste collection and they hope homeowners will make use of these to counteract the days over Christmas and the New Year when normal collections are missed.

‘Play the buzios’ competition in São Roque do Faial. Next Tuesday at 19.30 in the Casa do Povo, a competition to provide entertainment and teach children the art of making sounds out of this ‘instrument’ (conch shell). Awarded on merits of loudness, length of time and artistic ability. There will also be the Feast of São Martinho to revive the local tradition on the eve of São Martinho.

Individuals in a car assaulted an elderly woman.  An elderly woman was alone at a bus stop in Quinta Grande on Wednesday morning when a passenger of a passing car got out, threw her violently to the ground and stole a wallet containing about 100 Euros, personal documents and glasses. The woman went to the nearest residence for help, but unfortunately no individuals could be identified. A local resident claimed this type of crime has happened before and that criminals watch for people on their own.

Madeirans postpone buying a car. Up until September this year, there was a 26.28% reduction in the sale of new vehicles, to 2,130 cars and 296 commercial vehicles. At least 855 new cars were left at the dealers compared to last year. This means that both commercial and private buyers are buying fewer vehicles. There are faint signs of recovery and a lot of cars were previously bought using more readily-available credit. The tax incentives to buy hybrid or electric cars has had little impact as these vehicles are still very expensive. The picture is the same for used cars, and more diesel cars are selling than petrol cars. From the 11 – 15 November, there will be a used-car market at the Tecnopolo.

Madeira Wines & Spirits Festival. Update on yesterday. It was promoted yesterday on one of the catamarans and they were lucky enough to see dolphins. Access is 5 Euros a day, 7 Euros for 2 days and 9 Euros for all 3 days. This entitles you to a wine tasting cup and free entry to other activities.

—— If anyone goes, can they tell us what it is like. (The newspapers are heavily promoting it).

New Savoy Hotel. They hope to start the demolition before the end of the year, which should take 10 months, and redevelopment will take between 3 and 4 years. There will be 828 beds in 4 blocks, both in the hotel and apartments. 371 housing units split between standard rooms and apartments, ranging from T0 to T4 duplex. There will be more green areas in the 18,794 square metre site than before.

‘Atlantis’ special program. 10th anniversary of the RTP-M program. A special 2 hr recording today at the Casino which will be broadcasted on RTP-M, RTP-Azores and RTP-International. The program includes traditional folklore groups from Camacha and the Choir of the Portuguese in Caracas who are presently visiting the region and performing around the island.

Fire brigades better prepared for forest fires. From next Summer, there will be nine new vehicles spread around the region. The fire brigade will take part in an exercise at Madeira Airport on November 18th. There will be further exercises on the 19th and 20th at Rabacal to test the response at two scenarios of serious accidents with multiple victims. One will be a disappearance of a group of tourists in adverse weather conditions and another will be an accident involving a passenger bus.

Postponement of increase in the fees of private doctors. Consultation fees remain at 55 Euros until 2011 due to the present economic climate which is causing a drop in the number of consultations.

Fuel increases on Monday. Unleaded 95 octane up by 1 cent to 1.21 Euros and diesel will be 0.97 cents.

Businessman António Lopes acquires abandoned village in Portugal. António Lopes was for many years involved in the construction industry in Madeira. He has brought the abandoned village of Vieiro in Portugal which has been uninhabited for over 30 years and consists of about 24 houses which are now in ruins. It has taken 26 years to locate all the owners. He wants to rehabilitate the homes, primarily for tourism.

Mercarte in the Largo da Restauração on Saturday 7th. November. 09.00 to 18.00. Mercarte Madeira – Fair of Art and Craftwork. Both traditional and contemporary articles for sale.

A quick look at the front page news of today’s Diário :

Company of group involved in ‘Hidden Face’ received licence on Madeira before it was even created. It’s a long story of bigger consequences, but this particular part relates to a company set up on Madeira this year called Resatlântico, licensed in waste management, which apparently received its licence before the company was even formed.  The Department for the Environment says it followed the same legal regime that applies to all applications, and the company had not enjoyed any preferential treatment.  The  facts may say otherwise,  with ‘Resatlântico – Waste Management Ltd.’ not legally registered in the commercial registry office until May 11th, 2009, but the first license request in that name was received by the Department for the Environment two months before (March 3rd, 2009), via the Regional Secretary for Planning and Finances / Office of the Free Zone (Zona Franca), and an amended licence was thereafter issued, dated 19th May 2009. Hard to believe there would be any wrongdoing methinks. Busy people with so many brown and white envelopes passing through their hands often get dates mixed up.

Today’s top news story : Health and electricity owe €985 million – The Madeira health service has a passive debt of €484.6 million at the close of the 2008 economic year. The negative trend is worrying. Also the Electricity Company (EEM), despite of good economic indicators, registered in the same period a passive debt of €500,500,000. I can’t believe that last figure is correct … that must represent carrying a debt of around €5,000 for every customer EEM has on Madeira.

Contest for the Botanic Garden takes out director – Biologists surprised with opening for candidates just for agricultural engineers, leaving out the current post-holder. The regional secretary responsible has launched a recruitment process for a new  services manager of the ‘Jardim Botânico da Madeira – Eng. Rui Vieira’ (as it is now officially called). Roberto Jardim, who took the office left vacant by Susana Fontinha eight years ago, has a degree in biology, as did his predecessor.

Services through the loudspeakers causes controversy – The early morning masses in Lombada da Ponta do Sol are the origin of a police complaint. The câmara tried to make the priest more sensitive, that agrees to desist. All it needs is a letter to justify the matter before the faithful. The church ‘broadcasts’ the service to the community at 7.30 am on Sunday mornings, much to the annoyance of some locals. A complaint to the police under ‘noise laws’ was passed to the council to deal with, and the priest was approached. He will stop the broadcasts once he has some documents he needs to justify the move to the people. Unbelievable how the church thinks it has a free licence to impose itself in peoples lives whether they want it or not. I can live with the church bells, and even the occasional broadcasted services, and I even quite like the local events that now and again that close the town streets to traffic, and after all I did see the nearby church when I brought my house. But what I really detest is what is coming in just a few weeks, and that’s the 5 am mega-bangers day after day in the lead up to Christmas, but local traditions override national laws it seems.

In football : Madeiran Leonel Pontes in charge of Sporting. Following the shock resignation of Sporting boss Paulo Bento, his deputy will replace him for now. Leonel was born in Porto da Cruz, and was a tutor of Cristiano Ronaldo. Manuel Machado of Nacional was favourite to replace Bento in Lisbon, but it is believed he is not interested in leaving the Madeira club.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–
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. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

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

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

(more…)

(3rd August). Today’s main news headline and photo today : ‘Thankless Weekend – The rally and the visit of the kings of Spain mobilize the police. Officers without time to eat and without even one word of gratitude. They were given no orders(?), and one officer finished up with a torn uniform after an altercation in Nogueira’. The picture shows an officer in deep discussion at a police barrier. ‘Police in the sun, thirsty and without lunch, agents work consecutive shifts to provide safety in the rally’. It was a tough weekend for officers, with both the royal visit and the Madeira Wine Rally to be covered. The Association of Police Professionals (ASPP) says that working conditions were, in some cases, inhumane and will discuss the situation with the lawyer who gives legal support to the ASPP. Officers working at the rally worked consecutive shifts, with just 40 minutes break in between, says Jorge Silva, and even worse they were working out in the sun, without shade, and without "even the right to have a bottle of water to kill the thirst and the heat". He criticises the organizers of the rally, for lack of concern for those ensuring the safety for the competition. "Our officers said that there was shade and water for those who were part of the rally organization, but no one thought about the police", and he continues "The organizers of the rally thanked everyone, but I never heard a word of thanks to our officers who were in service night and day during the week-end".

‘Quercus Says That The Wind Park Of Paul Should Stop As It Is – To many units would have negative effects on the environment’. The environmental agency Quercus says it recognises the benefits of ‘energy eólica’, but Paul da Serra "is at it’s limit", and it would prefer to see an offshore wind park, or perhaps a platform in the sea. The wind park at Paul da Serra is undergoing renovation, with new larger more powerful and productive units, and Quercus says that although the clean source of energy is welcome, it is at full capacity there. To continue expanding would have consequences for the environment, and the visual impact comes first as far as both Madeirans and tourists are concerned. The work of installing equipment is a problem, destroying the plants, and sometimes regrets Idalina Perestrelo, does not comply with the environmental impact studies. Although not specified in the initial projects, sometimes small roads are created to bring in materials, causing damage to plant life. Furthermore, when entering into operation, the fans disrupt the ecosystem and affect birds and bats. It is common to find dead bats near the towers. The national investment in renewable energy is seen as a priority, and the government of José Sócrates believes that renewable energy projects will create 23 thousand jobs in the next six years. The wish of Quercus to see platform wind farms out at sea would reduce environmental concerns, but would be far more expensive and time consuming to construct.

In football, in the weekends pre-season warm up matches : Académica de Coimbra 1 Nacional 2, and Rio Ave 0 Marítimo 0.

‘Carvalhal Doesn’t Abdicate On One More Striker – The manager of Marítimo already ponders on the ‘loss’ of Wanderly’. After the 0 – 0 draw on Saturday afternoon and other indifferent results, the manager of Marítimo admits errors were made, but they will not be repeated. If the Brazilian striker Wanderly does not stay with the club, he will be out to look for another.

‘Garbage Is Not The Result Of Sewerage Discharge – Plastic bags and waste cans are not passing through sewerage treatment’. The Regional Director of the Environment, João Correia, clarifies matters in response to a story published at the weekend in the Diário about the pollution on our beaches. The floating rubbish that appears around our coasts are not from sewers he says, as people do not flush metal cans and plastic bags in their toilets bowls. This rubbish comes from dumping or littering at sea, and from rivers or streams where people throw their rubbish. As for poor water quality, he says that the only bad case is at praia do Vigário, and that all the other beaches have satisfactory water quality, as confirmed by fortnightly tests, even at Madalena do Mar. The final clarification is into the removal of 4 Blue Flags, but he said that is only the case at Madalena do Mar, as the other 3 concessions opted never to use theirs from the start, so as "not to jeopardise future applications".

But the Diário decides not to let go … ‘Dirtiness Abounds On The Praia do Natal’. The beach at Ribeira do Natal in Caniçal, one of the biggest in Machico, is in high season without the minimum of conditions suitable for beach goers. Along the length of the beach there are uncountable glass and plastic bottles, paper rubbish, plastic bags, and bits of assorted metal. The promenade also is not properly maintained and cleaned, and it subject to the fall of stones. The president of of Machico council, Emanuel Gomes, said he was unaware of the situation are will get it all cleaned up quickly.

 ‘Are the preventive measures against fire the most effective? Fires near populated areas have put risk people and property at risk’. At the weekend, the area of Santa Cruz was literally hit by several outbreaks of fire. All of them originated in derelict land and close to residential areas. A fact that put at risk people and property. The Regional Director of Forestry says the phenomenon is due to the abandonment of lands that were once farmed, and which now are at the mercy of vegetation and are not being cleared. One problem that need solving. It can only get worse, as the old retire from farming, and the young move off to other things. I also picked up on the news that several times there was no water available to fight the fires, and I couldn’t resist showing the photo of this guy and his inadequate hosepipe tackling a raging inferno … perhaps that will be the enduring photo over there in Santa Cruz.

Four more fires reported over the weekend, but no more trouble from the big one(s) over in Santa Cruz. All were extinguished, one naturally by falling night rain in Machico.

‘Funchal has 29 closed arteries – Increasing the quality of life and benefiting the traders, says the council’. The 29 streets, closed to traffic, amount to around 4 kilometres dedicated to pedestrians, giving a significant improvement in the quality of life, says the vice-president at Funchal council. Bruno Pereira stressed that the measure when it began to be implemented in the Madeiran capital "was not consensual, as is any change involving the experience of citizens". "But now, in general, people agree that it is an advantage for the city, as it became environmentally cleaner, from the point of view of emissions, and become more secure, because there was a reduction in the number of road accidents and pedestrians run over" he added.