The mayor of Funchal and the councilor for Urbanism today called the media to the Municipality to clarify, once again, all the doubts that exist around the project for Praia Formosa.
João Rodrigues began by mentioning that in July and August, in a period of 20 days in a row (taking the two months because of the holidays of many), citizens will be able to go to the Chamber to say what they wanted to appear in the urban park of Praia Formosa, which will comprise an area of 38,000 m2, more than the area of Parque de Santa Catarina. The date on which the Execution Unit will be put up for public discussion will be announced later, but the Urbanism councilor appealed to the entire population to participate, leave ideas.
Pedro Calado, for his part, said he did not understand all the buzz that has existed around what is scheduled for the Formosa beach area. There are those who insist that Madeirans will no longer have access to the beach. The mayor rejects this idea and went, today, together with João Rodrigues to discuss details.
Thus, he explained that in Praia Formosa there is a private area of 111 thousand m2. Of this area, the government demanded a part that would be public and that would allow access to Praia Formosa. The public area, which will be mostly landscaped and with 3 or 4 support spaces (bars or restaurants), will cover 38,000 m2 with a width of 80 meters (in one of the zones). In other words, between the private building and the promenade, which will also be entirely rehabilitated at the private expense, there are 80 meters. Then there are the pebbles and the sea, which will be accessible to everyone. The project includes, in addition to the private buildings, which are three (one of them a hotel), four covered parking spaces. Which will correspond to 600 or 650 rotating and paid seats, but accessible to anyone. One of these car parks, if all goes well, should be completed next summer.
Pedro Calado hopes that, by the end of the last quarter of this year, the private sector will be able to present their projects for licensing and the works will start right away. They should all be ready by the end of 2025.