PAN Gondomar criticized the felling of 55 cork oaks in the parish of Rio Tinto to allow the completion of Via Nordeste, arguing that the trees should have been considered when the project was outlined. In a Facebook post, the party recalls that the cork oaks "did not appear now" and that "they were there from the beginning, they are protected by law and should have been considered when the project was planned and approved".
ICNF authorized the felling of the 55 adult cork oaks on July 9, through the publication in the Official Gazette of the Declaration of Indispensable Public Utility, providing for compensation measures. PAN acknowledges that "development and mobility are important," but claims that "developing an area cannot mean treating nature as an obstacle that is removed when it gets in the way".
The Via Nordeste project, which will connect the parishes of Rio Tinto and Baguim do Monte in Gondomar, Porto district, dates back to the 1980s. Construction began in May 2021 with a budget of eight million euros and a two-year deadline, but only in 2022, with the work already in progress, was the existence of cork oaks discovered at two locations along the route, which required the interruption of work.
The mayor of Gondomar, Luís Filipe Araújo, estimates that the work will be completed in December, with a final cost of approximately 6.4 million euros. The road will have a length of 2.2 kilometers. PAN considers that "Gondomar City Council and ICNF have an increased responsibility: to find solutions that reconcile people's needs with nature protection".
