Braga City Council guarantees that the gym, contested by residents, will actually develop

The mayor of Braga, Ricardo Rio, said this Monday that the project to build a gym on Rua Luis Soares Barbosa “will go ahead as planned”, despite the objections of residents.

“Appeal from residents [contra a construção] this will not change the decisions of the municipal authorities,” he said, emphasizing that the contracts have been signed, are in effect and the work will indeed move forward.

The issue was brought to the fortnightly executive meeting this Monday by CDU councilor Vitor Rodrigues on the same day that existing trees on the site began to be cut down to allow for the construction of the gym.

Vítor Rodríguez asked why the municipality is removing the trees, what their fate will be, what the cost of the operation will be and why the intervention begins before an official response to the residents’ appeal has been given.

The mayor said the trees “will be replanted elsewhere,” adding that the removal is being done by the municipality because the gym’s promoters “were not interested in the trees.”

A resident who attended the meeting during the public period said it was a “sad day” for both him and environment councilor Altino Bessa, who “walked around with a hoe in his hand” planting trees in 2015 this place.

Then Altino Bessa said that these would be the new “green lungs” of the city.

We are talking about an area where the municipality planted about 50 trees in 2015 and where a sports complex with a gym and a swimming pool will now be built, managed by a private developer.

For residents, the council is putting the “interests of the property” ahead of the environmental interests and interests of those who live there by eliminating the “only green space” there.

Ricardo Rio has already reminded that this is not a green area, but a place for equipment, adding that if it were not for the gym, a kindergarten would probably be built there.

The mayor also said that “all current formal procedures have been completed,” licenses have been issued and the contract has been signed.

He also explained that, from a legal point of view, the project is the result of an open tender for the right to use municipal land for the construction of a sports complex, the launch of which was approved at a meeting of the city executive committee on November 26. 2018, “with the initial abstention of the Socialist Party.”

As a result of the concession, in addition to the applicable fees and licenses, the municipality “made a contribution of more than one million euros, already paid in full by the concessionaire.”

The Chamber also intends to include another 700 thousand euros in additional duties, but the company disputes this and has already filed a lawsuit.

In response, residents note that the planned complex “adds nothing to the area,” since two gyms, the Rodovia sports complex, municipal swimming pools and tennis courts are located nearby.

They highlight that the project will also increase traffic in the area, which is “already chaotic”, and will cause “severe disruption” to access to the hospital.