The mayor of Lisbon said this Monday that the urban hygiene situation in the city is “clearly better” but “many problems remain, for example with some local accommodation facilities”, defending an increase in the tourist tax to intensify cleaning.
“We have invested in this area like never before. Since the beginning of my mandate – October 2021 – we have hired 280 people. […]. We invested 19 million euros in equipment, vehicles [69 adquiridas]So the situation has improved, but it is still not ideal,” said Carlos Moedas (PSD) at the opening of the new urban hygiene unit in Belém.
In a conversation with reporters, the mayor admitted that there are “difficult” issues to be resolved in the area of city cleaning, but assured that the situation is “structurally improving”, emphasizing the high appreciation of workers, attributing to them an allowance for difficult conditions and ill health, acknowledging that in this sector “there is always many inputs and outputs” of professionals.
The 280 new workers “does not take into account those who leave”, but the municipality is ready to “always hire, if necessary, another 200” to overcome this situation, he assured, noting that between the council and the 24 parish councils there are about 2,000 specialists in this field .
Noting that Lisbon “produces 900 tons of garbage a day,” Carlos Moedas explained that cleaning the city “is a very complex job” that requires cooperation between the city council and parish councils: “This work is never perfect. but we are always improving the situation.”
In addition to praising the city’s hygiene workers, who have a “very hard job,” the mayor said the cleanliness of the city also depends on Lisbon residents, who must comply with waste collection regulations, including when and where waste is collected. , remembering that the municipality offers a free waste collection service.
In this context, the Lisbon City Council has launched an information campaign among the population, in particular through the MUPI (Urban Furniture for Information) advertising stands.
“We have a lot of problems, for example with some local accommodation where foreigners come and then they take their rubbish out onto the street, it is against the rules, so leaving a bag of rubbish on the street is unacceptable, but it happens,” he said. mayor.
Regarding complaints about trash in the city, Carlos Moedas said that “often” these complaints are related to “some lack of coordination between the city council and municipal services”, with garbage collection cycles that were not carried out on a given night. with a set rule that there is no garbage collection on Sunday and “there are often more problems on Sunday.”
Stressing that urban hygiene is a priority, the mayor added that the council is studying an increase in Lisbon’s tourist tax, so that the increase is “mainly aimed at cleaning up the city.”
The tourist tax in the city of Lisbon began to apply in January 2016 for overnight stays of national tourists (including Lisbon residents) and foreigners in hotels or local accommodation facilities. Initially it was one euro per night, but since January 2019 it has increased to two euros per night. Cruise ship passengers only started paying this fee this year.
The mayor defended quality tourism, in which Lisbon residents feel that tourism “does something good.”
“If tourism has a higher tourist tax and that tourist tax is used to clean up the city, people will say, ‘Look, tourists are doing their part.’ […] If we understand this, tourism will be welcomed and there will be no friction that often begins to arise when people start saying: “Too many tourists, too much garbage,” said Carlos Moedas, emphasizing that tourism needs to contribute to improving the quality of life of residents Lisbon.
Regarding the new urban hygiene unit in Belem, the result of an investment of 2.6 million euros, the mayor said that this equipment is designed to improve and strengthen the response capabilities of urban hygiene and waste collection services in the city, ensuring proximity to the system and quality conditions for workers , including the dining room.
Continuing to talk about the city’s problems in the field of urban hygiene, the mayor recalled the World Youth Day held in August, where, after the celebration, about 1.5 million people gathered in the Eduardo VII Park, which is three times more than among the population of Lisbon there were moments of communication when people helped the workers clean up.
“The city was truly immaculate every day. It was an incredible effort. […]. Our biggest challenge is, in a sense, to continue to do what we did during World Youth Day, every day in our city,” he said, again expressing gratitude to the city’s hygiene workers.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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