On 21 July, Turismo de Portugal launched the tender for the concession of the 7th Bataria de Costa, which the Mayor considered a first step towards solving a problem that the municipality had warned about for years.
At the end of the ceremony, held in the middle of the 7th Bataria de Costa, in Outão, André Martins recalled that the City Council drew attention, “since a few years”which “competent State entities for the ongoing process of degradation” of the military infrastructure, which, taking into account the view over Setúbal, Troia and the Sado estuary, is “one of the most privileged observation posts” possible to visit.
Put out to tender within the scope of Revive, the 7th Bataria de Costa has, together with Forte Velho do Outão, a gross construction area of 6909 square meters and, if the equipment to be installed is a hotel unit, it will allow an estimated of 35 rooms, according to the online page of that Turismo de Portugal program aimed at the rehabilitation of unused public properties, under a concession regime to private individuals for the purpose of tourist use.
“About 24 years ago it was abandoned and, therefore, an initiative was needed to restore this heritage. In addition to being from Setúbal, it is a national and even European heritage, because this battery was built after World War II to control ships that could reach the coast”, stated.
The president of the Chamber classified the day as “very important for Setúbal”, for having been “a decisive step has been taken towards the opening of a tender process for the concession of this heritage of the 7th Bataria do Outão” – the 28th property put up for tender under the Revive program – so that “there may be investors and it may be used for tourist purposes”.
André Martins underlined that, in this way, the heritage in question can be "recovered" e “valued”, becoming Setúbal with “Another Opportunity” to promote “at the highest level of reference”.
The mayor underlined the importance of the recovery and enhancement of the 7th Bataria de Costa in the social, economic and "about everything" environment, because it is integrated in the Arrábida Natural Park, considering that this will be one more reason for “the attractiveness of the municipality of Setúbal remains at the pace that has happened so far”.
“The role of the City Council has been, for some years now, to draw the attention of the competent authorities of the State to the continuous process of degradation”, said. “Today we are very pleased to be taking this step. That this process develops, that investors emerge and that we can achieve this objective. This first step is crucial so that the rest of the way can be done and that the objectives can be achieved”.
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Commerce and Services, Rita Marques. stated that those responsible for the sector are “full of expectations of being able to find a faithful depository of this immense legacy that was left 24 years ago, probably too long ago”.
The official considered that the Revive program, under which the concession to private parties will be made, allows trust “in the regeneration of the heritage that is vacant, which has not been used for too many years”.
The heritage will be, he underlined, reconverted, requalified and open to the community, “creating jobs, wealth and also reasons for pride” to all those who passed through the 7th Bataria do Outão during the years in which it operated, between 1954 and 1998.
Rita Marques noticed that thetourism sector has the “responsibility to regenerate territories, creating these anchor projects that can be new attractors of tourist flows and, above all, new reasons of pride for communities” who inhabit them, claiming that “military tourism is one of many examples of diversity” who have the "active" from the Revive program.
Besides “geographical dispersion”, because almost half of the properties included in the program are in low-density territories, said that “there is a concern that the nature of the asset itself is distinctive and differentiating from other assets that constitute the great estate of the Revive program”.
expressing hope that o concessionaire that may be found for this project will also “can face this great challenge that is to preserve military tourism”, Rita Marques stressed that this is “an excellent example of another asset that can clearly contribute to this new tourist product” that Portugal intends to affirm.
As Teresa Monteiro, vice-president of Turismo de Portugal, recalled, the Revive program was born from the realization, on the part of the State, that there is a set of properties that are its property or that of other public entities with common characteristics: they are unoccupied, they do not have been in use for many years and are degraded.
“And they are all classified heritage, which has a relevant historical, cultural, architectural importance for the country and also in the environment in which they are inserted”, he stressed, adding that, with the Revive program, it is intended to place these properties on the market to find investors interested in their rehabilitation, giving them a tourist use, under a concession regime “for an extended period that allows the recovery of the investment that was made”.
Teresa Monteiro said that the process is done “in articulation with the municipalities and local representatives”, as the city councils “they are constant partners” of the program's multidisciplinary working group, collaborating in the “preparation of parts” and participating in the evaluation jury of the proposals.
The projects to be presented by investors do not necessarily have to be for hotel establishments, there being, according to the vice president of Turismo de Portugal, other uses that can be given “as long as they have a tourist purpose”, such as galleries, restaurants, cafeterias, or local accommodation.
When reviewing the Revive situation, Teresa Monteiro said that there are currently 52 properties in the program and a third phase is planned to be launched in the short term, with a new set of properties that have been identified by local authorities and entities. regional.
There are 18 contracts signed, for a global investment of around 131 million euros, with annual rents from these concessions amounting to around 2,3 million euros. Of these 18 projects, the Convento de São Paulo, in Elvas, and the Stud Farm of Alter, in Alter do Chão, are already in operation.
