The Abrantes City Council in Portugal has criticized an intervention carried out on a stretch of the Ribeira de Alcolobre without a license from the Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (APA), the Portuguese Environment Agency, and without prior notice to the municipalities involved. The council's president, Manuel Jorge Valamatos, revealed the situation on Tuesday.
Speaking to the news agency Lusa, Valamatos said the council was alerted to an intervention with significant robustness and a very significant visual impact. He said the council contacted APA immediately, and the agency later informed the municipality that there was no licensing process with the Portuguese Environment Agency for this work.
Scope of the work on the Ribeira de Alcolobre
The intervention covered about 300 meters of the Ribeira de Alcolobre, downstream of the EN118 road, between the parish of Tramagal in the municipality of Abrantes and the parish of Santa Margarida da Coutada in the municipality of Constância, both in the Santarém district. Crews carried out dredging work, reinforced the protective embankments known locally as motas de proteção, and removed nearly all of the existing vegetation along the banks.
