The proposal for the Major Planning Options and Budget for 2024 was approved at a town hall meeting and represents an increase of around 15 percent on this year's budget, which provided for a total of 84.9 million euros, the municipality said in a statement.


The document, which will still have to be discussed and voted on in the Municipal Assembly, provides for "an initial overall amount of income and expenditure of almost 100 million euros, to be applied primarily in the areas of water supply and housing" and in projects to "protect the environment and conserve nature, culture, general administration and industry and energy", says the municipality.


In the note, the Algarve council highlights that next year's budget takes into account the "uncertainty of the macroeconomic scenario", caused by the "consequences of the conflicts in Eastern Europe and Palestine and the Middle East" and responds to the "challenges of adapting to climate change", making the best use of the "funding opportunities arising from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and the 2030 [Community Support Framework]".


According to the municipality, the areas that "will absorb the most financial resources" are water supply and housing, with €7.6 and €6.4 million respectively, environmental protection and nature conservation, with €4.89 million, culture, with €4.89 million, general administration, with €4.3 million, and industry and energy, with €4.4 million.


"The sum of the investment in these six major areas represents more than 32 million euros, or 72 percent of the PPI [Multiannual Investment Plan] for 2024 and 33 percent of the municipality's total expenditure," it adds.


Lagos Câmara also indicates that it intends to review the Local Housing Strategy in order to "increase the municipality's housing supply and rehabilitate existing municipal urbanisations", with the aim of improving energy efficiency.


"The increase in the number of homes to be built, from 153 to 260, is the starting point for this review," says the Algarve municipality, which expects to deliver the "first batch of 47 new homes" financed by the Recovery and Resilience Programme (PRR) under the Local Housing Strategy next year.