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Algarve pilots crimefighting weapon

The Algarve has been chosen as the pilot region to test a new European crime-fighting system aimed at illegal immigration, human trafficking and other associated serious infractions. Rui Pereira, the Minister of Internal Administration, presented the project in Faro.. The SMILE-Sistema Móvel de Identificação Local de Estrangeiros, com suporte ao controlo documental e de recolha dos dados biométricos, (Mobile local identification system of foreigners, with documental control support and collection of biometric data) is a portable, light unit “made in” Portugal which enables on-thespot reading of documents and their instant transmission to police data bases.

Faro Airport plans for the future

Works are underway at Faro Airport to receive up to triple the number of passengers that pass through the terminal annually. Currently 5 million passengers use Faro Airport, but according to the airport director António Correia the expansion work will increase the number of planes passing through from 22 per hour up to 30. It’s estimated that the full restructuring project should be completed by 2013.

Algarve’s rail network to be revamped

REFER – the national rail network – is planning to invest 30 million euros in maintenance work to the Algarve’s rail network during the next two years. Some of the works will take place on the Faro / Vila Real de Santo António section – where there are plans to substitute 21 km of sleepers and 44 km of track. Statistics show that 1.9 million passengers travel this line annually, although, according to Comboios de Portugal, the line loses 5 million euros a year due to the poor running of its trains and equipment.

Arrests in Olhão

Police in Olhão have arrested five suspects in relation to drug trafficking, and carried out a search of a house where a computer, stolen from the German Consulate in Faro, was recovered. The young men ranged between 17 and 24 years of age. An amount of drugs was also seized. Officials at the consulate welcomed the recovery of the computer, and were pleased that important documents, contained on the hard drive, had been safely recovered.

Algarve Stadium ‘reduces’ staff

The company responsible for the running of the Algarve Stadium, is “downsizing” the number of high level jobs, due to cash-flow problems. The proposal to lay-off engineers and architects came from Faro’s mayor Macário Correia. He has also ordered that the number of staff kept on for maintenance should be “reduced to the minimum”. The main problem is that the staff payroll and interest payments amount to more than five thousand euros per day. These costs are shared equally between Faro and Loulé Town Councils. According to an audit released in 2005 by the Accounts Tribunal, the Algarve Stadium cost 46.1 million euros to build – and is considered by many, to be a bit of a “white elephant”.