Madeira News Blog

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Pete … "For the butterfly lovers. taken Friday 29 January at Funchal Municipal Gardens".

Madeira’s favourite son (no not Rúben Micael) celebrates his quarter century today. Happy 25th birthday Cristiano Ronaldo.

On a December afternoon in 2007, billionaire Jose Berardo walked into the attorney general’s 18th-century headquarters in Lisbon to rat out executives at the Portuguese bank on which he had staked his fortune. Berardo, whose 7 percent share in Banco Comercial Portugues SA was worth about $1 billion at the time, says he met with Attorney General Fernando Pinto Monteiro for two hours. The investor handed Portugal’s top prosecutor several folders of evidence showing that executives at Portugal’s largest publicly traded bank had allegedly used offshore companies to try to boost the share price and their own bonuses. Berardo says he hoped his disclosure would spur the prosecution of the Oporto- based bank’s chairman, with whom the investor had clashed over governance issues, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its March issue. BLOOMBERG ARTICLE about one of Madeira’s more colourful characters, though I doubt that he is (or was) a billionaire (ah, just noticed, a dollar billionaire … that’s different!).

Joe Berardo Wikipedia page : HERE

"Parliament’s budget and finance commission will vote on the law in what may test the minority government’s ability to control spending at a time when Portugal faces pressure to reduce its debts. The dispute revolves around a proposal to grant the semi-autonomous island of Madeira payments worth 82 million Euros — a proposal supported by the main opposition, the centre-right Social Democrats. The government said passing the bill could send the wrong message to markets as the country struggles to convince credit rating agencies that it can reduce its budget gap to 3 percent of gross domestic product in 2013 from 9.3 percent in 2009. "The country won’t understand that, in the current budget situation, it has to make extra payments to Madeira," said Cabinet Minister Pedro Silva Perreira, adding that Madeira has higher income per capita than the rest of Portugal". For those who have been reading so much about the Regional Finance law in recent weeks and months, this may be the article that helps to explain to them and the international community the implications of what is going on. The daft thing is that the Social Democrat support was originally just a pre-election bargaining element of mutual benefit from last year, and that seemingly rather trivial commitment (at the time) could now bring down the Portuguese socialist government, not to mention sending negative ripples through the European economy. RFL

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

DIÁRIO 04/02/2010 – FRONT PAGE HEADLINES

The fault was not just the bad weather. "When you buy land to build, you should not be concerned only with the view." That is the advice from a University geologist when he analyzed the storm damage in Madeira, stating that rain and landslides are natural situations in Madeira. Losses could be minimized if the land was properly surveyed for suitability before construction work began, for example if it is near a stream that is likely to flood or at the base of an embankment. He also criticized public authorities for licensing buildings in perilous places. The quality of construction can also make a difference. Councillors and mayors also admit that the councils were partially to blame.

BALANCE IN FUNCHAL

Millions – Just to repair pavements damaged by rain, the Council will spend a million Euros and the final amount will rise above this figure, ensures Albuquerque.

Homeless – The landslides left six families homeless because of the storm. In Funchal, five people were housed temporarily in a pensão.

Closed – 30 roads were closed in Funchal. The situation was more complicated in Curral dos Romeiras. Yesterday morning, it still could not reached by bus.

Waterless – Several areas in Santana yesterday were without drinking water due to difficulties in accessing the sources.

Works – Miguel Albuquerque says it is urgent to solve the problem of Ribeiro da Nora and is willing to work with the Department of Infrastructure.

The coast – The Barreirinha, Praia de São Tiago, Ponta Gorda and especially the Lido were damaged. The Lido pool will close for work between Easter and the beginning of the season.

Half a million visit gardens and spent 3.5 million Euros. Garden Tourism is more competitive and diversified and is a specialist tourism niche. In 2008, there were 583,583 visits to the three main gardens in Funchal which have an entrance fee: Jardim Botânico Eng.º Rui Vieira, Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro, and Jardim Tropical Monte Palace. The importance of this type of tourism to Madeira is the British market and throughout Europe, gardens are enjoying a significant boom period. 60% of visitors to the Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro were independent visitors and the other 40% in organized groups. Whereas in Jardim Tropical Monte Palace, 90% of the visitors were independent. The tourists who visit gardens during the spring are mostly from Western and Northern Europe and during the summer months, are from Southern Europe. It is estimated that 41.4% of all tourists visit one or more gardens. The writer and environmentalist, Raimundo Quintal, also highlighted the importance of the concept of Botanical Hotels, for example: Hotel Casa Velha, Quinta do Arco,  Hotel Quinta Splendida, Quinta Jardins do Lago and the Resort Vila Porto Mare. Despite this, Madeira does not have a strategy for promoting garden tourism. He advises strategies are needed to accommodate family visits, links to the Flower Festival and more websites created to convince garden lovers that you can visit all year round.

PND protest in Belém. "Dr. Alberto João Jardim saw us and got angry." This assurance was given by Gil Canha, one of the four self-styled "horsemen of the apocalypse". Four members of the PND protested yesterday with a banner asking "Help Madeira but do not give any money to Bokassa", an allusion to the African dictator with whom Jaime Gama compares Jardim. José Manuel Coelho shouted slogans stating that Jardim wants money to support his political propaganda machine and to maintain the Regional Assembly which costs €17 million a year but does not function. Spending on football and Jornal da Madeira were also criticized. He also stated that Jardim only goes to Lisbon to ‘extend his hand’ (ask for money).

MADEIRA

Influenza support services close tomorrow. Special Influenza A Clinics (SAG) will shut at the end of tomorrow. They are at health centres in Santo António (Funchal), Câmara de Lobos and Machico. With the closure of these clinics, people living in Funchal and Curral das Freiras, at the onset of symptoms, should use the Emergency Department at the Dr. Nélio Mendonça Hospital in Funchal.  Residents at Calheta should go to the Health Centre at Calheta, Machico and Santa Cruz residents to the Health Centre at Machico, Porto Moniz residents to the Health Centre at Port Moniz, Ribeira Brava and Ponta do Sol residents to the Health Centre at Ribeira Brava, Santana and São Vicente residents to local health centres. All these centres are open 24 hours a day. In Câmara de Lobos (except Curral das Freiras), residents can attend the local health centre between 16.00 – 24.00 on weekdays and 08.00 – 24.00 at weekends and holidays.

25 drug traffickers caught in 4 months. Between October and January, the PJ (Judicial Police) have caught 25 drug traffickers possessing enough illegal drugs for 74,000 doses. This figure was revealed yesterday with the news that a 33 year old African was arrested at the weekend at the airport with 2 kilos of heroin in his suitcase – 20,280 doses. The drug was destined for the regional market. The police spokesman stresses again that the increased quantities of drugs seized are due to the police adapting to the changing habits of traffickers and not do not indicate an increased number of users. During this period, 60,000 doses of heroin were seized, the main drug smuggled into the region. 9 of the arrests were made in January.

ECONOMY

Embroidery promoted in Italy. The traditional Madeiran embroidery (Bordado Madeira) will be promoted at the ‘Immagine Italia & Co.’ fair in Florence. The Italian market is the second most important for regional embroidery.  The fair is aimed at professionals of the renowned Italian textile sector and international textile firms. Madeira will be represented by the Head of the Promotion Department at IVBAM and representatives of two regional embroidery firms: João Eduardo de Sousa, Lda and Soebol-Exportador de Bordado Madeira, Lda. The luxury market is targeted and known buyers and new customers sought.

Climber-Stirling will continue flying to Copenhagen this summer. It is thought the Nordic market will recover later this year. Of the three Scandinavian countries and Finland, Sweden is the only one showing no signs of economic recovery. The link to Copenhagen by Climber-Stirling will continue during the summer season and a tour operator has increased the number of seats bought on their planes and SATA flights. Travel groups with outlets in Nordic countries, Thomas Cook and Primera Travel, are also optimistic. There is competition with Southern European resorts offering sea and sand and the Azores, which is marketing more aggressively this year.

JORNAL DA MADEIRA

CARNIVAL 2010 – OCM leads the Carnival procession.  The group Caneca Furada will involve the Orchestra of Madeira with the conductor Rui Massena. This will be the first time an orchestra has taken part in a Carnival parade in Portugal. Caneca Furada presents the theme ‘The Sea and Piracy’. The group consists of  50 people with two floats representing galleons. The musicians will be dressed in gold and silver costumes representing pirates from the 16th Century. In 1556, pirates came to Madeira and raided chapels and monasteries and also stole cereals and women. The youngest women were the most valuable and often become pregnant. In local residents in Caniçal and Porto Santo, there are still noticeable traces in skin colour and blonde hair. The nuns fled with some valuable religious pieces, hiding in an area now called Curral das Freiras. Dancers will represent pirates (brightly coloured costumes), naúfragos (castaways) dressed and painted white, nobles, nuns and settlers to the island.

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

Convicts from ‘Cancela’ in basement in poor conditions – The ‘special’ prisoners who were transferred a year ago from Viveiros were put in a female wing. The women passed to the ‘punishment zone’.

Today’s main news headline : Cavaco makes opposition back-off in order to secure the government – Yesterday, after the message of the Council of State, the President of the Republic returned to pressure the opposition in the direction needed to avoid a crisis that Teixeira dos Santos [Finance Minister] last night made a point of showing was imminent. Everything down to the calculations of the finances of Madeira. Today is D-Day. All the indications are that today the opposition parties in the Portugal Parliament will support the amendments to the Regional Finance Law, put forward by Madeira, and the socialist government will lose the vote to try and stop it. You can watch it live on ARtv Parliament Channel.

Recovery under pressure in order to save the fountain of the saint. The fountain of Santo António da Serra is in a poor state, and the local council has been forced to act. It is the oldest and an important historical feature in the parish of Santo da Serra, but the condition is deteriorating year after year. The plan is to restore it and reposition it at road level, where it will be less exposed to water erosion.

A lot of rain doesn’t give one permission to waste water – The excess of rainfall doesn’t signify an increase in the groundwater levels. Sometimes it even can reduce the uptake. Despite the huge Winter rainfall, the IGA warns that there may not be sufficient water for the Summer. The warning was issued by the Regional Secretary for the Environment, and backed by the organisation responsible for water management, saying that a Winter with intense rainfall can be as bad as a dry one. It gets a bit technical after that.

The main sport / football headline today : UD Santana suffers a new blow – The club is prevented from signing players. Football club União Desportiva de Santana, currently bottom of the league table, was sentenced by the disciplinary panel of the Portugal Football Federation, for failing to pay an ex-player Luís Pedro Ferreira da Gama, who was sacked without just cause. The club has been prohibited from signing new players, and renewing contracts with existing players, and making other financial commitments.

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. 

"Portuguese finance bill threatens political crisis. Portugal moved towards a political crisis last night as its finance minister appealed to opposition parties not to defeat the minority Socialist government over a regional finance bill that he said would undermine the country’s international credibility". UK FINANCIAL TIMES

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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 photos / videos.

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

(more…)

Today’s photo – Many thanks to Pete … "Pleasant day in the Madeira sun".

Pete says (by email) :   "May I add a comment for the blog. Has anyone suggested a column where people who been looking for items in shops, and can’t find them, a suggestion from readers giving advice on how to find them?" Suggestions always welcome, but in this case a question about the item in the comments would probably do the trick Pete. The truth is that I have implemented a number of reader suggestions over the years, but the reality is that the ones that rely on reader involvement or contributions just die a death because there are insufficient people willing to get involved. Der.

This is a blog of a lady called Kim who lives on Madeira, and although the blog article link provided isn’t itself very relevant to Madeira (about a ferry trip from Funchal to the Canary islands on holiday in 2008), who knows if some interesting articles may appear later. She has already written some ‘interesting’ and varied pieces, that you can see on the right hand menu under RECENT ARTICLES

If you like poetry this is cute, with a nice picture of some men indulging in the famous ‘Vinho Seco’. “Madeira Under The Vine” by Mitch Hicks

… and one for the birdwatchers too, with a video of the Great Northern Loon in Madeira I am not quite sure where the ‘great’ bit originated though.

Becky kindly sent in this video link … I am sure I saw Uncle Bertie in there somewhere eating an empanada

Also from Becky, a blog from a ‘mysterious person’ who was here in the early 1970′s : "There was a small, exclusive restaurant located in a basement below a small supermarket (an oddity in itself in those days !). This was up one of these little winding roads on a hill. And in this little restaurant, we would have tornado rossini steaks that were probably 2" thick and served on a 2" thick matching piece of delicious fresh bread, with the juices soaking into it. And all around this steak would be small, delicate servings of various vegetables. And there was a different waiter for every item — one for the water, one for the wine, one for the bread, one for the meal … the service was incredible. The entire meal ran about $2". JOJO ZAWAWI’S BLOG

See if you can figure out what these words have in common :
1 Banana, 2 Dresser, 3 Grammar, 4 Potato, 5 Revive, 6 Uneven, 7 Assess.

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

FRONT PAGE NEWS – Diário 26/01/2010

PS regroup. The president of the Socialist Party, Jacinto Serrão, wants to recover lost votes and activists (party members). Among them, of course, the so-called independents of Gaula and when specifically asked about them, he said he has an "open mind". At the last election, the socialists lost in all counties, particularly Santa Cruz and Câmara de Lobos where they lost to the smaller political parties. Jacinto Serrão views "hopeful signs" with "tens" of new activists and the party needs restructuring and new bodies should be operational in three weeks time. He insists the internal dispute ended on January 9th (election of new leader) and there is room for supporters of the other main candidate for leadership, Victor Freitas.

Machico increases money for sport but not culture. The Municipality of Machico has frozen money transferred to cultural associations regardless of an increase or decrease in the number of planned activities. This decision was taken on January 15 at the last council meeting. As in previous years, the socialist councillors abstained from approval of this vote. The socialists maintain that over the past five years, funding for sport has increased by 28% (60,000 Euros) but not a penny more for cultural associations. The amount transferred to the football clubs themselves is more than the total for cultural associations. The socialists recommend a 20% increase in funding for culture. The mayor, Emanuel Gomes said the crisis justifies the assignments. The council is having liquidity problems with no prospect of an increase in revenue from the State and a large loss in revenue from construction works and licensing of works. 43,250 Euros has been allocated to 13 cultural associations. Only three receive more council funding, 7,500 Euros each: Banda Municipal de Machico, Prestige Dance and the Cultural Group ‘Flores de Maio’.

MADEIRA

Dolce Vita teaches energy conservation and road safety. A roadshow aiming to increase awareness and publicize the best solutions for tackling climate change and the rational use of energy, runs from 29 January to 1 February. It is accompanied by an exhibition, ‘The Future of Our Climate: Man and the Atmosphere’, highlighting greenhouse gases and climate change and what people can do to combat them. Between now and February 5, the police are raising awareness of road safety and accidents. In the session, there will be a simulation of a traffic accident between a motorbike and a car, accompanied by a photographic exhibition showing accidents that have occurred in Madeira.

Copyright ends up in court. Six Madeiran owners of restaurants and nightclubs have refused to pay the licence fee for playing music in their establishments. This has forced the Society of Portuguese Authors (SPA) to proceed with litigation. The fee is 300 Euros per year per establishment. For the last eighteen months, members of SPA have visited shops, bars and restaurants with background music and asked them for their licence. Most have no licence and some have chosen to turn off the music, many rebelled with verbal abuse. The ones that do apply for a licence before opening a bar are the few older immigrants form the UK, who are used to having to apply for a licence. The members are used to answering questions about copyright of intellectual property as there is confusion over the rules and this Saturday at 9.30 pm, they are holding a free-entry information session at the Municipal Theatre. There will be an interval with a live music session.

Bothersome bad smell in Santo da Serra. The transport and disposal of debris from the Lagoa do Santo da Serra caused an outcry at the end of last week. The owner of the site is cleaning up the lagoa (pond) and the smell comes from the foliage, branches and tree trunks removed. The president of the Parish Council would not visit the area, saying it is the responsibility of Santa Cruz Council and the council’s environment office have ordered that the intensity of the smell is reduced.

Dispute over land leaves three injured. An alleged dispute over land was the source of shots fired on Sunday night in the parish of Boaventura. A 55 year old father and 48 year old mother are in the Department of Surgery at Funchal Hospital and the 22 year old daughter received emergency treatment for a minor hand injury. The mother has a serious abdominal wound. The alleged perpetrator is a person in their sixties and has been arrested and an application for coercive measures will be made today at the District Court at São Vicente. The crime occurred at 19.00 at Fajã do Penedo where the alleged perpetrator owns land close to the injured family.

Death of a construction worker on trial. The death occurred on the 28 February 2008, when the construction worker was installing water pipes at the Estrada Nova da Marinheira, Estreito de Câmara de Lobos. A traditional stone wall collapsed and buried the 40 year old man who was working in a ditch. At yesterday’s court hearing, evidence was heard from witnesses including relatives, co-workers and security experts. No-one can explain why the wall collapsed and the accident could not have been predicted. A photographic survey before the work was undertaken did not reveal any signs of instability. The plaintiffs want the case to be considered an accident at work so the widow can receive a pension and compensation from the insurer and company responsible for the work.

Lived for a century. Bernadette Maria Correia de Menezes Telo was born on January 26, 1910. Reaching 100 years is a gift, but to reach this age with lucidity and reasonable mobility is a luxury that few reach. Bernadette was born in Santana and lived there for most of her life and also resided in Funchal. Two siblings have died and her husband, who was 10 years older, died 30 years ago. She has had four children but the youngest died. There are six living grandchildren after one died in an accident in South Africa, and three great-grandchildren. She was born in the year of the war and news in the early twentieth century was transmitted through the radio. When Bernadette was young, Santana came alive during holidays with families from Funchal spending their summer holidays there. At such times, they danced the foxtrot and waltzes. With her siblings, she entertained by playing the guitar, viola and bandolin. She does not know what has been planned for today’s celebrations but they include the whole family as it is such an important date. — Looks well in the photo – no information about how many reach this age. Does she receive a telegram and if so, from which president?

CULTURE

Work of Max Römer helps UNICEF – Haiti. The exhibition running at the Mouraria Gallery until 20 February is to celebrate 20 years of the company Dima. Dima have launched a collection of seven postcards, inspired by this artist’s work and reproduced by an English artist, Alex Jawdakímov (watercolours). Each set costs five Euros which goes to the UNICEF – Haiti appeal. According to one of the private collectors who have loaned pieces for the exhibition, Römer was a versatile artist and the most important aspect of his work was in the design. He introduced the first machine to produce postcards to Madeira.

Fadista honours Madeira. Concert by Salvador Taborda at the Municipal Theatre in Funchal on Friday 29 January at 21.30. He will present themes from his most recent album ‘A Cor do Fado’ and from previous recordings. He will sing a previously unheard piece which is a tribute to Madeira. Salvador is accompanied by three musicians who are also of the new generation of fado. It is the first time that he has sung in the region and this Portuguese artist was invited by Miguel Albuquerque [Funchal Council President]. Tickets cost 10 Euros with discounts for young people and senior citizens.

ECONOMY

FNC Excursões have a new branch. Located in the Quinta Bela de São Tiago. Their tourist activities are sought after by young people and they take advantage of low-cost airlines in the region. New programs called ‘Stress Out’ and ‘Life is Beautiful’ and they have official walking guides and use Springcar coaches. Also have a website for booking.

Le Grand Bleu mega-yacht in port. This private yacht is in port today for refuelling and to give the crew a rest period. The yacht arrives from Philipsburg at 19.00 and leaves on Friday at 7 am. This is the third visit and the yacht occupies the 16th position in the list of the largest motor yachts in the world. The mega-yacht was commissioned in 2000 by the billionaire John McCaw and was acquired in 2002 by Roman Abramovich and since 2008, has been owned by Eugene Shvidler. The Lobo Marinho ferry returns to port today after a 15 day break for the annual maintenance work and should resume the maritime link to Porto Santo tomorrow at 8 am.

10 new Funchal buses capable of carrying wheelchairs and pushchairs. 10 new buses for the company Horários do Funchal after an investment of 2 million Euros. The central door has a hydraulic ramp for wheelchairs and pushchairs / prams. These new buses mean that ten old buses, more than 23 years old, can be withdrawn from service. There will also be environmental gains. Two banks finance 50% of the cost of the buses which is 945,000 Euros plus IVA for each bus. There is a problem of obtaining buses with a centrally placed engine as Volvo are the only firm presently manufacturing them. The buses entering service in 2008 have a rear engine and can only be used on 42% of the routes whereas the new buses can be used on 80% of the routes. Example of a difficult route is the intersection between Caminho de Ferro and Rua da Levada de Santa Luzia.

POLITICS

PCP against ‘backdoor’ privatization. The Regional Government wants to transfer the Professional School of Hospitality and Tourism to the private sector, to free the Regional Budget of €4.5 million annually. The deadline for tenders is Thursday and the application period was only 37 days. The communists say the transfer for a period of 15 years is a matter of public interest and should be subject to clarification. If quality of training worsens, then the regional economy will be harmed.

Levada in Calheta costs a fortune. Members of the PSD were in the area of Maloeira in Calheta to inspect part of the upgrading work between Funchal and Ponta do Pargo, a total investment of 4.2 million Euros. The first phase, between Salão and Prazeres was completed last summer (13 km/1.3 million Euros) and this second phase extends to Ponta do Pargo (26 km/2.9 million Euros). 85% is co-funded by the EU and the remaining cost is from the Regional Budget. This irrigation channel will be upgraded by 2011 and serves 4,900 farmers and four water treatment stations. The cost is justified as the levada is 60 years old and looses 30 litres per second.

Gaula discuss postponement of works. The Parish of Gaula want a discussion with the local population in the next few days, about the postponement of the work on the Caminho do Porto Novo – Achada Rocha. The postponement was decided last November after a meeting of the Regional Government (Jardim?) and the Municipal Council of Santa Cruz. Élvio Sousa (JPP), the President of Gaula Parish Council, says the precise timing of the meeting will depend on the supply of documents by Santa Cruz Council, needed to analyze the contract. The parish council want to know what the local population want them to do next.

Finance Minister appeals to parties. Teixeira dos Santos said that the Regional Finance Law is "spending at a time when there must be rigour, discipline and budget constraints". He said it will have an impact on the State Budget. Manuela Ferreira Leite, the national PSD leader, said the law is not a budget issue and should be debated separately. The PS are pressurizing the PSD, insisting that they cannot say the fundamental problem is Portugal’s debt and put forward a proposal that increases the debt by financial transfers to an autonomous region. The CDS-PP are trying to reach a consensus as they are important intermediaries but their position is not clear.

Jardim is not intimidated by Teixeira dos Santos. The Finance Minister has threatened to resign if the Regional Finance Law is passed and Jardim has reacted swiftly, "The exit of Teixeira dos Santos from Government is the biggest favour he could do for the country." Jardim states "the Portuguese are being cheated" as Madeira does not want anymore money but "a replacement of the conditions created by a socialist law". The Regional Government has calculated that the revision of the law would account for 0.05% of the 2010 State Budget. Jardim said that for the Finance Minister to threaten to resign over this small percentage was either irresponsible or blackmail. This amount is less than the amount transferred to TAP and the international community would think that the Portuguese are crazy. The Portuguese would realize that to threaten to resign over a law representing 0.04% of GDP is a plot. In reference to the leader of the Azores, Jardim said that his declarations were serious but the Azores would not be jeopardized by the revision of the law.

LATE NEWS

Benefit concert for Haiti. The students of the Conservatório-Escola das Artes will hold a concert to raise funds for the victims. 21.00 on Thursday at the Municipal Theatre in Funchal.

JORNAL DA MADEIRA

Porto Santo Line will review subsidized airline tickets. The company will review next year, the policy that Porto Santo residents can buy subsidized flight tickets during the time when the Lobo Marinho is in dry dock for annual maintenance. Many abuses were recorded, with cases of people buying five tickets at prices much cheaper than normal (28.60 Euros) and will use them in April and May. Such people have never travelled on the ferry during 2009 and disadvantage residents who need to travel for essential reasons. The normal cost of the trip for residents is 80 Euros and there were 50 subsidized places per day. This is the first year that they have detected this exploitation.

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

Today’s main news headline : Finances of Madeira confuse until the end – Sócrates today wants to postpone the Regional Finance Law again. The Social Democrat Party already dropped the retroactive payment [arrears], and the Christian Democrats carry on doing the sums. Madeira could receive only half of what it wanted. There are several lead stories in the Diário today on this subject, with a big day ahead for Madeira, and an even bigger day ahead for the Socialist Government, who risk losing the vote with their minority holding, something that could have bigger repercussions for Portugal as a whole. If the matter of arrears has been dropped, and the financial benefit for Madeira is now as low as quoted above, then aside from some constitutional type issues included, the RFL has become nothing more really than a political football and we will see how many players each team has later today.

Tunnel with emergency exit in the backyard earns a slating – Residents threaten to resort to the European Court because the emergency exit of the new road branch to Madalena comes out at the access of the garage of the building. The government says it is cutting costs. The owners of the apartments in the building in Madalena do Mar are upset that the government is making a compulsory purchase of land that will serve as an exit from an emergency escape tunnel from the new main road tunnel being constructed. The access road will then become part of the public highway. The 309 square meter area being targeted not only takes the access road to the building garage, but also some ‘out front’ parking spaces for the apartments and shops. I didn’t know that Madalena had any shops?

Islands and Centenary of the Republic are being debated this year – The Study Centre of Atlântico has a cultural and scientific programme.

Rupture in the water mains leaves Santo António without water. These were commonplace when I first moved to Madeira, with a lot of digging and building work going on, and a loss of water supply every few months, but I have to say I don’t think we have lost our water supply for several years now. With my monthly bill still at around €4 a month, even though it has probably doubled in 3 years, I think that with service like that it is pretty good value for money.

The main sport / football headline today : Rúben Micael ignites war Porto – Benfica. The Madeiran player, now in FC Porto, exposes the intimidation of Jorge Jesus and Rui Costa in the game Benfica v Nacional. With just a week after joining Porto from Nacional, the lad from Câmara de Lobos has gone in with two feet, not that that fire needed reigniting. This all goes back to the match in Lisbon last October when there were a number of unpleasant incidents, and Micael accuses the Benfica coach of trying to provoke trouble and making a two fingered gesture at him. He said in the radio interview that it was the first time he had been asked for his version of events.

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. 

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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 photos / videos.

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

(more…)

(13th September). The last of today’s headlines : ‘Santo da Serra Takes In Biomass Plant – Nutroton invests €22 million for energy production’. Nutroton Energy, whose CEO is an ex PSD president, will install the biomass plant in the parish to generate electricity. The decision was taken unanimously by Santa Cruz councillors, after a proposal by the majority PSD. As well as produce clean energy, the plant will bring prosperity to the area, provide new jobs, and reduce the environmental problem of disposal of poultry waste. The land needed will be transferred without cost from the council to the company. The plant will have a capacity of 8 MW.

It’s probably more theoretical than practical for most of us, but the natural gas market reaches the final stage of liberalisation at the end of this year, a time when we the domestic consumers can choose our supplier, an option that is already available to large consumers. The liberalisation of the market started in January 2007, with EDP and Galp dominating the market up until then. Switching suppliers will cost nothing, but as most of us on Madeira probably use bottled gas we will not see much impact, although the impact of liberalisation on gas pricing is yet to be seen.

(12th September). ‘Fund Doesn’t Thrive – Only one family on Madeira has signed up to the fund created to help those who can’t pay their monthly bank mortgage payments’. The central government created scheme was there to help families during the crisis who were in arrears with their mortgages, by allowing them to give up ownership, but pay rent instead, until times improved. The truth is that the results show that the Portuguese, and Madeira in particular, did not believe in this product, which allowed the ‘tenant’ the right to buy back their property until the end of 2020. The banks were not keen to get involved, being one problem, but the massive retreat in interest rates also made the whole scheme less necessary.

‘Construction Slows But It Doesn’t Stop – Home building registers the lowest fall in Portugal’. It is a significant statistic. Madeira is the region of Portugal with the smallest fall in the construction of domestic properties, signalling that the crisis has not hit as hard here in the construction sector. In the first two quarters of this year, 275 homes were licensed, a fall of 27.6%. That compares with falls of 69% in the Azores, the worst, 55% in the Algarve, and 54% in Lisbon. In 2008 the number of residential buildings on Madeira was estimated at 82,735, with the actual number of homes within those estimated to be 119,995. 32% of these buildings are located in Funchal, 16% in Santa Cruz, and 11% in Câmara de lobos.

(13th September). The count for visiting cruise ships continues to impress. 35 are due in Funchal next month, and another 100 are expected in the final two months of 2009. The three month period will see over 220,000 tourists arriving by cruise ship, by far more than any other Portuguese port. November alone will see around 100,000 visitors here (54 cruise ships).

(12th September). ‘Lobo Marinho Will Undertake More Journeys To Porto Santo In October’. An extra six crossings will be fitted in, with Porto Santo Line rejigging it’s schedule for the big Porto Santo weekend of 3rd to 5th October. High demand for that weekend will be catered for through twice daily trips on 2nd, 5th & 6th October. Monday 5th October is a public holiday, and many Madeirans want to make a long weekend break on the golden island.