Madeira News Blog

(13th June). ‘Blaze In Santo da Serra Threatens Houses’. A huge fire was last night being tackled by Santa Cruz firemen, concerned about its proximity to homes and ‘haystacks’ or haylofts in Morena. The 10 men and 6 vehicles were initially fighting the blaze on two fronts, due to access difficulties in the heavily forested area. Luckily there was an agricultural lake nearby to enable the fire fighting vehicles to refill with water. Another 7 vehicles and 15 men were sent in later to help, and locals and forestry police are also involved in the operation. Other fires in Machico and Câmara de Lobos (Quinta Grande) were also tackled in what the Diário describes as opening day in the ‘season of fires’.

‘Various Works In C. Da Barca Damage Homes – Cracks and infiltrations cause complaints to the Social Services that refer the matter to the building contractor’. Works in the tunnel of Alferes Veiga Pestana in Funchal is causing damage to residents in the building of the same name. One resident interviewed claims that the damage was caused when the contractors Tamega SA were using explosives. He now has damaged ceilings throughout his home, and says that the rain comes in, especially during the Winter. Oddly, despite complaining, he has not contacted the contractor who he was advised was responsible.
Another headline spelling mistake on the front page, what is going on there!

‘Postman’s Days Are Numbered – delivery of letters made by a contractor are generating criticism and causing annoyance’. The policy adopted by the mail company CTT of using an outside company to deliver the post, are going to make the traditional postman disappear in the near future. Concern was expressed by the president of the regional union of National Association of Telecommunications and Mail, who regrets the delays and detours of the mail "that unfortunately are happening across the island". Complaints of losses of mail from utility companies, courts, and social security are growing, but it is a matter of the mail being incorrectly delivered rather than lost he says. Yet "the idea is to extend the use of outsourcing throughout Madeira" he stressed. A spokesman for CTT does not admit that outsourcing will cover all Madeira, but admits that other areas are being defined, beyond Santana and parts of Caniço.

Dates have been pencilled in for the remaining two elections this year. The ‘legislativas’ or national elections are likely to be on the 20th or 27th September, and the ‘Autarquicas’ or local elections, depending on the date of the nationals, should be on 11th October. The political parties have been consulted on holding the elections on separate days, and all are in favour except one, with the social democrats still to say. The argument for holding the elections on the same day are to contain costs, especially for the smaller parties. On the other hand that would mean 4 ballot papers on the same day for each voter. The national elections must be scheduled a minimum 60 days in advance, while local elections are scheduled by the Prime Minister at least 80 days in advance. Nationally there are 230 candidates in 22 constituencies. Locally, there are 308 councils (câmara municipal), 308 municipal assemblies (assembleia municipal), and 4,259 divisions or parishes (assembleia de freguesia), with a maximum of 4 year mandates.

(21st May). Main news headline of today : ‘Employment And Hospital Are Priorities – Entities alive on Madeira, answering a question posed by the Diário, are consensual in respect of the priorities in these times of crisis’.

The Diário interviewed a number of people from health, education, business and politics to ask about their views for the priorities on Madeira, and their responses in general point to addressing unemployment and health care. The contributors include teachers, politicians, business leaders, a nurse, two trade unionists, an environmentalist, and a football association representative. With nearly 11,500 unemployed, two-thirds of the 15, when asked the question : "What should be the priority for Madeira, at the moment?", responded in favour of fighting unemployment, and the social problems that result from that. Nobody, not even the football association representative, referred to sport or football as being a priority or even a concern. The matter of the new hospital was generally a second priority. The existing hospital in Funchal was inaugurated 40 years ago, and has many shortcomings, but no date has been set for a new modern hospital. The hope is that it can be included as a project of national interest, but there have been no breakthroughs yet. Another priority is improving the poor relationship between Madeira and the Republic (or should one say the PSD social democrats and the republic?).

The Legislative Assembly of Madeira will vote within a week on a draft law to send to the Assembly of the Republic, which will prohibit collective redundancies in companies that have annual profits exceeding one million Euros. The proposal should attract support from opposition parties, but is not seen as having major consequences. Most redundancies so far have come from medium and small companies that have negative or small profits.

(21st May). The main picture in today’s news shows a lorry tipping what seems to be earth and stones. ‘Santo da Serra Demands An End To The Cowboys – The president of the parish is annoyed about the 9 landfill permits given by the council in 4 years’. The council (câmara) of Santo da Serra has granted 9 landfill licences to various companies, but the holders are not always complying with the terms. Quercus, the environmental agency, as well as the parish president, believe that the terms are being abused, and the landscape disfigured. "Santo da Serra is changing. Gradually, the town has been losing the deep beauty of nature that characterized it. These are the effects of the intervention of man, sometimes controlled, sometimes, illegal", says the Diário. The licences allow the 9 companies to unload suitable material for agricultural purposes, and the recovery and improvement of certain locations and the environment. The forestry police alone have identified 14 cases of illegal dumping in the area in these four years, as well as two cases of illegal extraction of land. More inspection and control has been called for to try and resolve the problem.

(21st May). ‘Madeira Palácio Pays The Christmas Salary To 115 Employees – Hotel closed for works and with an uncertain future takes on the budget of 2008 in a few days’. (The Xmas salary is in fact holiday pay normally equivalent to 4 weeks earnings.) The uncompleted works remain suspended due to lack of financing, but the 115 workers will at least get what they are owed this month, after the administrator for the 5 star hotel reached an agreement with the trade union representing the workers. In the meantime the workers contracts remain suspended, whilst work on the hotel has been suspended for over a year. It has also been agreed with the authorities that the suspended employees will receive an unemployment benefit, equivalent to 65% of salary, whilst the company cannot meet it’s obligations. As well as refurbishing the existing hotel, there is the construction of a block of 100 apartments on adjacent land, all in all requiring €50 million to complete. The owners (in Lisbon) have tried to sell the business, but there are not takers yet. Negotiations with the banks continue, as the sale of the 100 apartments will pay for everything. "In tight times, the outlook is bleak, and we are faced with a situation very similar to the Colombo Resort on Porto Santo, where the work was suspended through the lack of financial backing for the company promoter", says the Diário.