Bárbara Chaves is 48 years old and was born in Vila do Porto. She has a degree in Environmental Engineering and a master’s degree in Spatial and Environmental Planning. She has been a senior technician in the Regional Directorate for the Environment since 2002 and was Director of the Santa Maria Environment Service between 2005 and 2008. She was a member of the Vila do Porto Municipal Assembly between 2005 and 2009. In 2008, she was elected regional deputy for the Socialist Party until 2021, when she was elected Mayor of Vila do Porto. At the party level, she was the regional leader of the PS/Açores and island coordinating secretary of the PS/Santa Maria. In an interview, she says that there are many difficulties in maintaining a fruitful dialogue with the Regional Government of the Azores and that many of the issues that are on the table and need rapid intervention have not received the best attention from the Azorean Executive, particularly concerning transportation.


Correio dos Açores: – Some people and members of parliament say that Santa Maria is becoming bottlenecked in its development, especially concerning transport – despite the fact that SATA has more flights during the summer season – which limits the population from leaving for other islands or outside the archipelago and the arrival of more tourists on the island. On the other hand, there is the problem of the lack of maritime passenger transportation and the limitation of cargo transportation. Do you agree that there is a bottleneck and that there isn’t the necessary support in this area?
Bárbara Chaves (Mayor of Vila do Porto): The problem of transportation has been talked about a lot, but it hasn’t had the necessary follow-up from the regional government. While it’s true that our airline, SATA, has increased its number of flights, it’s also true that they’ve done so in return for taking away our maritime passenger transportation of passengers. And, although it may not seem like it, maritime passenger transportation brought many people from other islands, others who have homes in Santa Maria, and also tourists. We’ve increased the number of flights and there are more flights, it’s true, but they don’t always happen. There are a lot of issues that are really bottlenecking us. If we take into account that the summer festivals make their living from people coming from abroad, without adequate transportation we can’t develop economically. We need to have adequate and regular transportation so that people can book without being on a waiting list. When people from Santa Maria make a reservation with SATA, they are often on a waiting list and end up confirming it closer to the start of their trip. But tourists who are looking for a destination and see that there are no seats available, don’t book, don’t stay on the waiting list, and opt for another place. This is also a limitation in getting more people to the island of Santa Maria. This happens in both summer and winter. I’m not saying that more people aren’t coming to the island, because tourism is very good for this time of year, but what is certain is that our hotels still can receive more people and we could have more people for longer periods, for example, in both May and June when we could have more tourists. This transportation bottleneck was visible at an event in May organized by the Santa Maria Motorcycle Club – the Azores Moto Fest. Some people couldn’t get to the island to take part in the event, some because they couldn’t get airfare, and others because they couldn’t bring their bikes. It’s a limitation and stops folks from getting to Santa Maria. In the case of flights, the timetables aren’t being met either. Some that are scheduled for an 8PM arrival, they are canceled and rescheduled and arrive in Santa Maria at midnight. There was a situation this summer where a flight from Terceira island to Ponta Delgada arrived late, passengers missed their connecting flight to Santa Maria and had to spend the night at Ponta Delgada airport, without any conditions, until 6am to get to our island.
Of course, this is not pleasant for anyone. If that happens to tourists, of course, they won’t return to that destination. These things have to be thought through and changed, and we need a better system to serve the citizens. It’s not because Santa Maria has a better airport that only has to have flights at midnight and 1am, that’s not comfortable for those who want to visit.

As for cargo transportation, are there also limitations?
Yes, there are. Freight transport is very important for getting our products to market, but also for receiving goods. Not having adequate maritime freight transportation also limits tourism and our economic development. This problem is more serious when we talk about perishable goods, where the delay or cancellation of a ship will mean less shelf life or the loss of the product. In Santa Maria we receive everything from outside and with more people on the island, we need more goods. That’s why we need to have adequate transportation of goods, so there’s no shortage of products. And traders are complaining about this. We need regularity and predictability in the transportation of goods by sea. There has long been talk of changing the maritime transportation model in the Azores, but it hasn’t happened yet. There is also a problem with the transportation of live animals abroad, which is damaging to beef producers.
In this context of maritime transport, the City Council has already questioned the government on several occasions and we questioned it again recently when the decision was made not to include Santa Maria in maritime passenger transport, but we haven’t received an answer.

Do you think they are excluded?
Just the fact that we don’t have maritime passenger transport is a factor of exclusion. Only Santa Maria and São Miguel don’t have this type of transportation, but São Miguel has another gateway that we don’t have. There’s a lot of tourism in São Miguel all year round, and it’s hard to understand why there isn’t a greater incentive for there to be a bridge connecting and transferring tourists to Santa Maria, which also has private investment and needs to boost its economy. When we go to BTL, visitors often say that they don’t know Santa Maria and Graciosa, which may mean that we are not being properly publicized and that we need to think about and act to reverse this situation, especially during the low season. We are not being listened to. They want to beat us through sheer exhaustion, but they won’t succeed.

When people vote, regardless of party, they expect answers to their demands and don’t understand when there are no solutions to problems and when political decision-makers don’t work together in the interests of the people. What’s missing from good dialog? What divides you?
I’m the Mayor of all those who voted for the PS and all those who didn’t vote. And that’s important on an island with a smaller population and fewer resources. There are areas where we manage to reach an understanding, but in others, this doesn’t happen and there are disagreements. What we really need to do is get along and work towards the same goal. It saddens me to see certain attitudes, such as not responding to our requests or even being open to an ARAAL contract [development contract between the autonomous regional administration and local administration], but then it not coming to fruition. We’re doing things and trying to do more, but I can see that there isn’t much cooperation from the regional government. That’s not to say that people aren’t nice, they are, but what we need is concrete actions and commitments.

As I understand it, there is still no response to the ARAAL contract between the government and the municipality?
Yes. We’ve already asked two questions about the ARAAL contract. One of the answers was that it would go ahead when there was a budget. The budget already exists, but we haven’t had any feedback. The other question concerns a climate change contract, but it never comes to fruition. In addition, when we joined the municipality, there was a draft ARAAL contract for the rehabilitation of infrastructure at the airport, which belongs to the Regional Government, but it didn’t materialize. So, in terms of the ARAAL contracts, I don’t think I’m much different from my colleagues in the local councils, but that’s a limitation for us because at the airport there are areas that belong to the government and there are areas that belong to the local council. In our case, I can say that we’ve carried out a procedure in the municipal areas, in terms of water supply, and we’ve sent the project to the Regional Government, which also has its own planning and licensing for some allotments, and that’s fine, but if we had the ARAAL contract we could do everything together, which would be easier and more practical for the people of our island.

There have also been reports of delays in the payment of support to cultural institutions, or rather, that the funds are paid long after the events have taken place. Do you also receive these complaints?
For our part, we have a program to support associations and a municipal regulation that we created and are applying promptly. For many associations, this is the only contract they have in good time. In the case of sports, they also have a program contract with us, and it’s practically that money that they have to rely on throughout the season because the program contract they have with the government comes much later. And of course, this creates some difficulties, since the associations have no other sources of funding. We don’t have companies here with the financial capacity to sponsor teams that do regular sporting activity. It’s difficult for these associations and sports clubs, in this particular case, to get funding from outside official bodies. Some of the associations tell us – I don’t know the situation today [Wednesday the 7th] – that the only money they’ve received is from the City Council. When we draw up the program contract, as a rule, we pay 80% and the remaining 20% when we receive the final report, at which point we validate it and adjust the amount, if necessary. This is an added value for cultural and sports associations, which are the only way to have some working capital and the necessary funds to cover the costs of registration, travel, and so on. If the program contract isn’t paid on time, of course, this creates financial difficulties.
As far as the cultural associations are concerned, and we’re talking about the summer festivals, apart from the fact that the amounts allocated by the City Council are smaller, but that’s part of each one’s criteria, it’s true that the government payments have only been made after the festival or event has taken place, which also causes inconvenience for the associations and those who organize them.

One of the recurring complaints from residents and tourists is the lack of maintenance and upgrading of the island’s roads. What role does the City Council play in this matter?
Several entities manage public roads. Regional roads are managed by the Regional Government, municipal roads by the City Council, and rural or forest roads by the Forestry Services. And bearing in mind that we have a very degraded water network, much of it due to the degradation of the pipes themselves that were installed a few years ago, as far as we can, we have been replacing and resurfacing them. We haven’t been able to meet all the needs either, because they’ve been degraded for a long time. As you know, there are no EU funds for roads, so the councils allocate their funds to what can be applied for EU funds. In any case, we have already been working on municipal roads, replacing pipes and resurfacing them. We also have projects underway to rehabilitate some roads, which will take place in 2024 and 2025. We are in the process of awarding a contract for the horizontal signposting of municipal roads, because this is also a necessity, as it creates constraints for those who travel, especially on narrow roads. There are other roads owned by the Regional Government that are also in a bad state. There are indeed some roads, particularly one of the regional roads, in São Pedro, which have had a lot of water intervention. We had to open it up, and the asphalt is being replaced as the company can do so. This is a concern we have and, as I said, we are making the replacement of the pipes compatible with the resurfacing of these roads.

The tracks have also been criticized because they haven’t been cleaned, which hinders circulation. Knowing that the island is very popular in the summer, why isn’t cleaning done in good time?
The council only has one trail, which it has delegated to the Almagreira parish council to maintain. The rest of the trails belong to the Regional Government and we can say that there is a significant lack of maintenance. In May there was a trail race in Santa Maria for the national championship and it was very difficult for the organization to keep everything clean. It was the organization’s own staff who cleared part of the trails so that the race could be held. This is a regrettable situation. The tourist who comes to Santa Maria is a tourist who appreciates nature, who dives in our waters, who tastes our gastronomy, who walks the trails, and in the latter case is disappointed with what he finds and the complaints about the lack of maintenance reach us. I believe there should be a strong commitment to this maintenance. I believe that the island’s officials may be concerned about this, but we can see that there is a lack of organization in terms of managing the trails, because first it was one entity that did this, then they passed it on to another and now it’s another. So I think there needs to be a definition of who does what to keep the trails clean. We have approved trails that neither tourists nor locals can get through because there’s too much vegetation. We’re sorry, but it’s not up to us.

You managed to take advantage of the PRR to renovate houses. Are the works already underway?
When we arrived at City Hall there was already a strategy, but in the meantime, we reorganized this strategy and presented another that was more ambitious, and more suited to the current reality and we now have a very significant number of applications underway that awaiting approval by the IHRU (Institute of Housing and Urban Rehabilitation). This PRR, worth 7 million euros, is divided into two areas, one in which the council buys housing, rehabilitates it, and puts it on the affordable rental market, and the other in which it buys land to build housing that also goes on the rental market. The council is preparing the housing regulations and will then make them available to people, subject to certain criteria. Within this PRR, there are projects for direct beneficiaries, i.e. people who own their homes but live in serious housing shortages, and so the houses have to be rehabilitated, with the guarantee that the energy certification will be higher than the existing one. This means rehabilitating roofs, doors, and windows, among other things. In this program, we have 119 applications, which, once approved, will be carried out by the municipality. In other words, we are going to carry out the work and this guarantees the IHRU that the work is done within the criteria and there is no risk of having to return funds from this program. Now we just have to get the applications for around 3 million euros approved.
We have until 2026 to implement all these programs, totaling 7 million euros, which are very important because they aim to address the housing shortage on the island of Santa Maria. At the moment, renting a house on the island is very expensive, but the rental market is working, although we know that many people can’t rent, so we’re going to try to overcome some of these difficulties. The response from IHRU is that it’s taking a long time, so we have a lot of applications pending or awaiting elements for approval.

Apart from this PRR between the City Council and the Government of the Republic, there is also a PRR from the Regional Government worth 7 million euros…
The Regional Government has also applied for seven million euros for the rehabilitation of the airport housing estates. They have the same timetable as us (2026) and will also have to implement it. What saddens me is that there are other neighborhoods where the government could support the rehabilitation of the homes of the families who live there, if only through another program. It hasn’t done so, and we will continue to reiterate this need. We have already made ourselves available to enter into a partnership, through the ARAAL Contract, which didn’t happen, but now we’re available for another type of partnership. Because it is also necessary in the airport housing estates to resurface the roads, the inevitable replacement of the water supply and wastewater. We will wait.


Santa Maria has a lot of problems, but also a lot of potential. We talk about the island because we talk about the construction of the spaceport, the teleport, and Cansat, the best airport in the Azores, but when we analyze the various testimonies, what we see is that the island is doomed to oblivion. Is that how it reads?
We have all these assets, but we need the will to make things happen. I can’t say that in terms of the spaceport, things can happen more quickly than they have, because there are projects that are European and don’t depend on Portugal, but there are other matters that could have a different projection and aren’t happening. The CANSAT projects are very interesting educational programs, the City Council and other chambers have helped, but at this specific level, we needed to see something more concrete to make us believe that it’s really going to happen. We must have some added value from having these infrastructures on the island. We also have other potential, such as NAV and the teleport. These are important infrastructures for our visibility, but in practice, although we have around 20 more jobs (teleport), we could have many more. There are a lot of young people who have gone on to do their specialties and hope that there can be greater effort and dynamism to get jobs in their field of study. We hope that there will be other types of infrastructure that would be important for people to settle. Other young people have gone to do their training, their parents have invested, and now we hope that there can be more activities so that these young people can settle in Santa Maria. This is fundamental because the island needs children, young people… In short, it needs people. Although Santa Maria’s population hasn’t decreased much, according to the latest censuses, we have an aging population and we have to be careful not to lose people. As a city council, we’ve tried to help. We created the Birth in Santa Maria program for everyone, regardless of family income, and we have support from pre-school to 12th grade. We also want to give support to the middle classes who don’t have any government support. In addition, we have awarded 35 scholarships to support young people who want to complete their studies and see the scholarship as a contribution from the municipality so that they can complete their education. The investment that has been made in education, which we don’t see immediately, also makes me believe that several young people from Santa Maria are going to do their training and then, given the chance to work on the island, will want to return.

Nélia Câmara is a journalist for the Correio dos Açores, Natalino Viveiros, editor-in-chief.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.