The Minister for the Environment and Energy revealed that the European nationwide program Sustainable 2030 will finance work on the Port of Praia da Vitória and Lajes Airport. In total, an investment of around 100 million euros is planned in the municipality of Praia da Vitória.
“The Sustainable 2030 operational program, which is co-chaired by the Minister for Cohesion, but is the responsibility of the Ministry for the Environment, will fund very important projects for the region,” said the Minister for the Environment and Energy.
According to Maria da Graça Carvalho, in the area of sustainability and decarbonization, investments totaling 378 million euros are planned for the Azores, 321 million of which will come from the Cohesion Fund.
The largest investment will be in the Port of Lajes das Flores, which was destroyed by Hurricane Lorenzo in 2019. The port will receive 185 million euros.
Around 100 million euros will be invested in the municipality of Praia da Vitória. The minister highlighted “the refurbishment of the multi-purpose terminal at the port of Praia da Vitória, with close to 45 million euros” and the acquisition of a crane for the port of Praia da Vitória “worth 4.4 million”.
Also included are the “expansion and modernization of Lajes Airport, with 40 million euros, and the refurbishment of the apron, with 10 million euros”.
However, Maria da Graça Carvalho warned that these investments must be “executed very quickly” and completed by the end of 2028.
The executions must be annual; otherwise, Portugal will lose access to European funding.
“By 2025 and 2026 we need to have a lot of execution. It’s necessary to have mature projects that can be executed quickly, namely to start executing this year and have a big execution next year,” he said.
In August 2023, the President of the Regional Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, announced that the multi-purpose dock at the Port of Praia da Vitória would be extended by more than 350 meters, in an investment of around 30 million euros.
In November 2024, Berta Cabral, the Regional Secretary for Tourism, Mobility, and Infrastructures, said the execution project was underway and should be completed “in the first half” of this year.

Upgrading the water network
The Environment Minister announced the project to reinforce the Agualva-Praia da Vitória water supply subsystem at the ceremony to present it. The Environmental Fund will fully finance the project, with 5.3 million euros in funding.
“The municipality of Praia da Vitória has been trying to solve this problem for several years in order to increase the quality and safety of the water collected and to supply around 10,000 people. We had to find a definitive solution to this issue and so, working together, we managed to do it and announce it here today,” he said.
The intervention, which should be completed by 2026, includes the construction of three new water mains covering an 8.4-kilometer length, the construction of a new reservoir, the expansion of an existing reservoir, and the construction of new supply networks, as well as the refurbishment of reservoirs and hydraulic equipment.
“The project to reinforce the Agualva-Praia da Vitória water supply subsystem allows us to close three boreholes – Pico do Celeiro, Areeiro and Barreiro – which have saline intrusion and risk causing the presence of fluorides in the water consumed in part of the municipality,” said the mayor of Praia da Vitória, Vânia Ferreira.
The mayor said that the municipality spent a year waiting to be received by the previous government of the Republic (PS) “to unblock bureaucratic obstacles with the Environmental Fund”, which were only unblocked “thanks to the current executive of the Republic”.
“Not only have we signed the protocol that guarantees this project, but the budget allocation has been increased from 4.6 to 5.3 million euros, which greatly benefits the work that will take place, with completion scheduled for the end of 2026,” he added.
In March 2024, Council of Ministers resolution no. 57-A/2024, issued by the PS executive, was published in the Diário da República, authorizing the Environmental Fund to “carry out multi-annual expenditure in support of the project to reinforce the Agualva/Praia da Vitória water supply subsystem,” for an amount of 5.3 million euros.
Vânia Ferreira highlighted the “commitment of the Government of the Republic” to Praia da Vitória, pointing out that the government is also contributing to the regular analysis of the municipality’s public water supply and the upgrading of the supply network in the Nascer do Sol and Beira-Mar neighborhoods, which were previously used by the US military.
However, the mayor did call on the minister to “continue making concrete investments in the effective decontamination” of the municipality.

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.