Quercus today denounced the intention of the Covilhã City Council to cut down 1,400 cork oaks to expand the Tortosendo industrial park as part of the review of the Municipal Master Plan (PDM), which is under public discussion until Friday.
In a statement sent to the Lusa agency, Quercus reminded that the cork oak is a protected species and that “dozens of the 1,400 to be felled are century-old.”
The environmental association urged the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) and the Centre Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDRC) to enforce the law.
In addition to the felling of the oaks, the association guaranteed that this operation will also affect 10 primary residences, which, through expropriation, “will make room for new industrial plots,” while “half of the plots in the current industrial zone are empty or abandoned.”
Environmentally, for Quercus, “this is a project with very significant impacts, since beyond the already ancient cork oaks and the forest they form, there are two watercourses and three ponds.”
It also alleged that “the environmental report of the PDM revision omits the existence of the oaks,” and therefore considered that the City Council shows “an attitude of bad faith,” because “they do not reference them in the Municipality’s Constraints Charter.”
The president of the Covilhã City Council, Hélio Fazendeiro, clarified to Lusa that the whole process has been conducted “in a close and transparent manner.”
He also stated that the strategy for business and industrial development in the municipality is part of the programmatic and political commitment presented to the population in the last elections.
“In the elections we undertook the commitment to increase the supply of land and industrial space to attract companies and investments and, in short, to honor Covilhã’s history and tradition in terms of industry, companies and the private sector,” he stressed.
The mayor said that he has also conveyed to the Government and regional institutions the willingness to “accommodate, in the municipality, the area of business development that is foreseen in the Centre Regional Development Plan and in the Plan for Transformation, Recovery and Resilience (PTRR).”
But for that, “land is needed.”
“But the 80 hectares in question have been planned as an industrial expansion area for more than 30 years,” i.e., “since the Tortosendo Industrial Park was created and the first and second phases of deployment were built.”
The mayor reiterated that the area was placed under reserve, but “it was not yet included in the PDM, and that is what will happen now, which will also allow the infrastructure of that industrial area.”
He guaranteed that the municipality “knows the limitations that exist” and that, “obviously, the City Council, being a person of goodwill, will comply with all the rules and laws that exist to safeguard sustainability, heritage and the rights of people.”
Regarding the public consultation, Hélio Fazendeiro noted that it should run for 30 days, in accordance with the law, but the municipality extended it to 45 working days.
“Beyond that, before it is officially published in the Diário da República, we approved it in the municipal executive and held a thematic meeting of the Municipal Assembly to discuss the topic explicitly, and explanatory sessions were held in each of the 25 parish councils,” he said.
