The president of the republic signed an agreement on the Alcoutim bridge.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo de Sousa, signed the government decree approving the Agreement between the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain for the construction of an international bridge over the River Guadiana between the towns of Alcoutim (Portugal) and Sanlúcar de Guadiana (Spain), signed in Faro on 23 October 2024.
Approved at the Council of Ministers meeting on 9 January, the diploma ratifies the agreement signed at the XXXV Luso-Spanish Summit between the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain for the construction of the international bridge over the River Guadiana, which is now awaiting ratification by the Spanish authorities.
Aimed at boosting cross-border regions and improving accessibility between the two countries, promoting the well-being of the population and economic development, this work will be carried out by the Municipality of Alcoutim and involves an investment of more than 15 million euros, the funding for which has been included by Portugal in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
Since the contract was signed between the CCDR Algarve (intermediate beneficiary) and the Municipality of Alcoutim (final beneficiary), the Municipality of Alcoutim has already drawn up the execution project and carried out the environmental assessment studies and the procedures for launching the work and its supervision are also ready.
This investment was originally identified as a project of common interest at the 1992 Luso-Spanish Summit and in the 1995 INTERRREG programme, but it didn’t go ahead for funding reasons. With the PRR, Portugal included this investment in the projects with European funding, to be completed by 30 June 2026. We are now waiting for the Kingdom of Spain’s authorities to approve the agreement.
