Funchal City Council will refurbish the northern area of Jardim do Campo da Barca, the southern area has already been renovated following the flood of 20 February 2010. The project has now been put out to public tender.
The Municipality hopes to be able to start the works at the end of January next year. These are essentially improvement and rehabilitation works. “It is a very simple project, we are not going to alter or remove anything, nor are we going to build anything else”, explained the vice-president of the CMF. “What we are going to do is restore the pavements, we are going to install a single pavement, restore the tree areas, and the entire slope due to rainwater, and the entire electrical system”, said Bruno Pereira.
With an investment of no more than 262 thousand euros, to which up to 57,640 euros of VAT will be added, the objective is to “give a more urban, higher quality experience to a garden that is beautiful and has its value due to the tree species it contains, but which in terms of paving, nowadays with mobility issues for everyone, presents some constraints that we will resolve with this project”.
The work will focus mainly on the pavement, and it is not expected that the works will complicate traffic in the area. The current garden maintains a road layout, in fact, the person in charge recalls, in the past cars would drive and stop there, and there was even a taxi rank inside, as seen in the photo. The reality has changed, but not the garden, which has remained unchanged for over 50 years, and is now mainly a crossing space.
“This is one of those projects in a city that increasingly wants to improve its green spaces. It will focus on a very interesting green space in the city of Funchal, which was, by no means, abandoned, but which was in need of rehabilitation. And we are going to rehabilitate it so that the people of Funchal can enjoy even more this very beautiful green space, in an important area of the city of Funchal, which is increasingly central.”
The southern part, where the statue of the florist is located, was the subject of an intervention several years ago, the entire garden was restored after being affected when water and debris overflowed the banks of the Ribeira de João Gomes, so it will not be touched at this stage.
Once the works are completed, which are expected to last around seven months, Bruno Pereira believes that the northern part of the Campo da Barca Garden will be a more accessible and appealing space, with plans also being made to reorganise the plants, while keeping the trees and other flowers and plants of interest. The public tender documents highlight the Tipuana tipu – one of them a monumental tree – the Chorisia speciosa and the Marckhamia lutea. According to Bruno Pereira, there will then be a project in terms of green areas that will make it even more beautiful and colourful.
A bench is planned to be placed in the center of Largo do Conde de Carvalhal and smaller benches next to the trees. This space will be able to be used for fairs and events.