(14th July). ‘Jaime Ramos Confirms The Presence Of Ferreira Leite in Chão da Lagoa – PSD expect the greatest turnout ever from the Madeirans’. Manuela Ferreira Leite will be at the annual festival (rally) of the social democrats of Madeira on the 26th of July, and over 40,000 people are expected to attend to see the national leader of the social democrats. The announcement came from Jamie Ramos, who is the party leader on Madeira. More than two hundred coaches are expected to be hired for the event, which will have more than a hundred stands from traders of all sorts, local live music, and the singer Mikael Carreira. The theme of the event will be "34 years, 41 victories". In that case it won’t be hard to work out what next years event will be called, and the year after, ….
‘Jardim Encourages People To Participate In The Forthcoming Elections – The president of the regional government is optimistic about the future for agriculture’. Alberto João Jardim, urged the people to participate massively in the coming elections, "decisive" for the future of regional autonomy, whilst speaking at the Agricultural Fair in Porto Moniz. On the subject of strengthening regional autonomy he said "You can not have development without the Madeiran parliament having powers to make new laws and create new solutions, especially for the economic sector". On agriculture, given the hundreds of farmers that listened, he expressed optimism about the future of the industry of the region, citing figures from the National Institute of Statistics, which showed that the gross domestic product related to agriculture grew by 50% since 2001 in the region. However, that that growth has greatly been thanks to aid and EU subsidies.
‘Dr. Nélio Mendonça Passed Away – Ex-president of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira was hospitalised. The Government Of Madeira Is Going To Declare Today 3 Days Of Official Mourning’. The doctor specialising in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and politician died aged 78 after illness. He was also president of Nacional Sports Club, and the founder of Madeira’s health service. I have read the obituary and readers comments in the Diário today, and it sounds like Madeira has lost a great man indeed.
‘PS Blames Government For Environmental Charges’. The socialists of Madeira are concerned with the increasing debts of the councils here, as a result of the environmental policies of the regional government. The company established by the government for the management of water and solid waste should have been fully established by the start of this year, taking the work and costs from the councils, but this has not yet happened. As a consequence the councils are paying a high price for continuing to take the waste to the processing plant at Meia Serra, with some having to result to seeking credit to pay the bills.
‘Naviera To Continue Carrying Cargo – The ferry owner and Conceição Estudante point out that it is necessary to comply with the licence issued’. Naviera Armas and the Regional Secretary for Tourism and Transport (STT) have not yet received notification from the court and the operation of loading and unloading in the port of Funchal will remain as at the moment. However the two parties, who met yesterday, agreed to comply with any future decision made by the court, that ruled that due to unfair competition the ferry between Madeira and Portugal could not carry freight, unless transported in lorries, and not in containers and trailers.
In a separate later headline it says ‘Government Will Defend Armas – The GR is aware of the importance of the Armas operation and offers itself to promote the public interest of this transport’. In a nutshell, the government of Madeira does not support the case of the National Association of Shipowners, who obtained an injunction against Armas over favouritism in terms of costs and freight in the use of the Port of Funchal. It’s a tricky one to resolve now, but the government here only have themselves to blame, for creating a situation that was bound to raise the hackles of those shipping companies forced to shift their operations away from Funchal.
‘Government Of The Republic Supports New Routes To Madeira – Signing of the agreement brings the secretary of state for tourism to Madeira’. 4.30pm on Wednesday is when the key players in tourism get together to sign the new agreements for the connections between Madeira and Paris, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. The deals will receive state and other funding for 3 years to the tune of €650,000, in order to attract a potential of 20,000 new tourists to Madeira.
‘New Ferry On The Cards – An emigrant from the Azores wants to start a ferry service between the Azores and Madeira’. He wants to buy a ship called the ‘Atlântida’ to run the service. The story appeared in the Diário de Notícias in Lisbon yesterday, saying that Madeira could benefit from a new service for passengers and freight, but the Azores government says that the ship does not meet the speed requirements to operate the service. The idea is to offer a complete ferry service using the connection of the Naviera Armas to reach the continent. This ferry option for passengers on the Azores has been extinct for the last 30 years. The businessman with the idea already owns a shipping company.
‘Occupation In Hotels Fell 16% In May – Data from the National Institute of Statistics shows a 13% fall in profits’. The number of ‘nights slept’ fell 16% compared to May 2008, a higher fall than that nationally (15.3%). However we still had the highest occupation rate for the month in Portugal at 54.6%, and the highest average length of stay (4.9 nights) compared to a national average of 2.7 nights per stay. Maybe it’s me, but there seem to be up and down figures published every week, and on the 4.9 nights average stay, does that mean that on the final day the average guest misses breakfast?