The project, which had already been announced by the Minister of the Environment, Maria da Graça Carvalho, is expected to begin at the end of the summer season and will be financed by the European Cohesion Fund and the National Environmental Fund, to the tune of €14.2 million, the government stated in the resolution published and signed by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, dated July 24.

At issue is the sand restoration project along a 6.6-kilometre stretch of coastline between Quarteira and Garrão, in the district of Faro, within the "scope of integrated coastal zone management" in the Algarve. The strategic objectives of this project are to "prevent or reduce the effects of natural hazards, particularly those resulting from climate change," and to implement "investment in coastal areas most vulnerable to risk."

The application to the Cohesion Fund was submitted under the Thematic Program for Climate Action and Sustainability (PACS), which allows for actions to protect the coast and provides for "a maximum co-financing rate of 85%, with the national contribution being borne by the APA," he said.

The APA proposed the contracting and execution of a project to artificially replenish the coastal stretch between Quarteira and Garrão to "combat the retreat" of the sand in this area, which, according to the government, has seen "increased erosion associated with the construction of maritime projects."

"The Artificial Feeding project on the Quarteira-Garrão coastal stretch aims to artificially saturate the wave transport capacity, mitigating erosion of the sandy cliffs by dredging sediments from the offshore borrow patch and subsequently repulsing them to the emerged beach along a 6.6-km seafront," the Government stated in the resolution.

This project is also part of a set of actions proposed by the Vilamoura-Vila Real de Santo António Coastal Development Plan (POOC).

"As part of the application submitted for the aforementioned project, funding was obtained from the Cohesion Fund in the amount of €10,841,087.15, and national funding was considered, to be implemented by APA, IP, and supported by the Environmental Fund, in the amount of €3,426,974.35, amounts that include value added tax at the current legal rate," the government stated.

Since this project will only be completed in 2026 and will give rise to "budgetary charges in a fiscal year other than the year in which it is completed and the respective procedure is initiated," the government explained, authorizing the expenditure and assuming multi-year costs through a resolution of the Council of Ministers.

The APA is therefore authorized to "incur the expenses and assume the corresponding multi-year costs, including those arising from price reviews, related to the artificial water supply project for the Quarteira-Garrão section."

This authorization will be for "up to a total amount of €11,600,050.00, to which value added tax (VAT) will be added at the current legal rate, totalling €14,268,061.50," it stated.

The "national counterpart, of the amount provided for in the previous paragraph, to be made by APA, IP, for a maximum amount of €3,426,974.35, will be financed by resources to be transferred from the Environmental Fund," the Government concluded.