The Setúbal City Council approved the proposal for this municipality to withdraw from the Association of Municipalities of the Setúbal Region (AMRS), with votes against from the CDU and votes in favor from the PS, CH, and Setúbal de Volta.
The Greens consider this decision profoundly negative, given the importance that AMRS has always had, and continues to have, in the development of the Setúbal region.
Founded in 1982, AMRS’s purpose was to develop studies and plans common to the various municipalities to promote development in the areas of education, health, environment, urban planning, culture, social and economic policies, among others.
AMRS was responsible for the Integrated Development Plan for the Setúbal District (PIDDS), effectively monitored the Integrated Development Operation of the Setúbal Peninsula, implemented the Administrative Modernization Program for the Municipalities of the Setúbal District (PROMAAS), and developed the Strategic Development Plan for the Setúbal Peninsula (PEDEPES). This integrated and strategic vision drove projects such as the South Tagus metro, the airport on the south bank, and the third Tagus crossing, as well as initiatives like AMARSUL and SIMARSUL in the area of urban waste and wastewater, with a strong positive impact on the region’s water resources and estuary areas. Promoting broad public participation and involvement, AMRS has become, over the years, a prestigious and benchmark institution with a profoundly necessary regional vision.
Partido Ecologista Os Verdes
The Socialist Party (PS) has long sought to dismantle AMRS, with the departure of the Municipal Councils of Moita, Barreiro, and Almada. Maria das Dores Meira has now joined this political intention of the Socialist Party.
To claim that AMRS’s activity has no return for the population of the region and for Setúbal in particular is, at the very least, ludicrous when, in addition to all other dimensions of activity, AMRS was ultimately responsible for submitting Arrábida’s candidacy for UNESCO biosphere reserve status, a classification that was approved and awarded in September of this year. This, in addition to the prestige and responsibilities that a classification of this importance generates, further contributes to the preservation of the natural, cultural, heritage, and social values of Arrábida, which, in turn, is a clear engine of development for the municipality of Setúbal.
AMRS will certainly continue to be a very relevant structure for the regional consideration of development and interaction with other institutions. The municipality of Setúbal loses with the decision to leave AMRS and weakens the potential of the much-needed regional vision.
