Intervention of 4 million euros will be done throughout the year
Throughout this year, the project to clean up the Leça River, which crosses the municipalities of Santo Tirso, Valongo, Maia and Matosinhos, will be executed.
The river is 48 kilometers long and was once considered one of the most polluted in Europe. The intervention has a budget of four million euros coming from the REACT - EU program.
The presentation of the activities that will be executed took place yesterday at the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities Corridor of the Leça River, in Lionesa Business Hub.
The session began with the performance of the Little Singers of Maia, who performed the "Music of Leça".
Artur Branco, executive director of the Associação Corredor do Leça, presented the plans for 2023, namely the intervention to rehabilitate and enhance the banks of the river Leça and its main tributaries.
In addition to a better knowledge of its biodiversity and the continuous monitoring of water quality, an intervention of 71 km will be carried out along the entire length of the river Leça on both banks and main tributaries.
The operation foresees the collection of waste, the removal of invasive exotic vegetation, an intervention on the banks protecting them from erosion and flooding, the improvement of the landscape and biodiversity, the replanting of the banks, the increase in water quality and its abundance in drier periods, and the recovery of weirs.
Although the cleaning of the margins and the riverbed is a legal obligation for each landowner, the work will be done free of charge by the Association of Municipalities of the Leça River Corridor. For this purpose, it is enough that each owner authorizes the cleaning in his property.
This was followed by the projection of a video with a message from the Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, Américo Aguiar, who is also president of the General Assembly of the Association of Municipalities Corridor of the Leça River.
The session was attended by the mayors of Matosinhos, Luísa Salgueiro, Maia, António Silva Tiago, Santo Tirso, Alberto Costa, and Valongo, José Manuel Ribeiro.
Also yesterday was marked the rotation of the presidency of the association of municipalities, from the Municipality of Matosinhos to the Municipality of Maia, which assumes its presidency in 2023.
The ceremony ended with a video projection of the Leça River, by the photographer Renato Laínho.
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