In a note published on its website, the Presidency of the Republic reported that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa signed the Government diploma approving the agreement established between the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Spain for the construction of a crossing over the Guadiana River, between Alcoutim, in the Algarve, and Sanlúcar de Guadiana, a town in the province of Huelva, in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia.

The head of state also announced, in the same note, that the agreement between the two countries for the construction of another international bridge, this one over the Sever River, between the towns of Montalvão, in the municipality of Nisa, was promulgated by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, district of Portalegre, and Cedillo, in Spanish Extremadura.

The agreements for the construction of the two new international crossings, which are financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), were signed by the Governments of Portugal and Spain during the Portuguese-Spanish Summit held in Faro, on October 23, 2024.

The bridge between Alcoutim and Sanlúcar de Guadiana represents an investment of around 13 million euros and is being developed by the Alcoutim Council, according to data provided after the Summit by the Governments of Portugal and Spain.

In the joint declaration then approved, Portugal and Spain highlighted that the projects aim to reinforce the Common Cross-Border Development Strategy (CBT) to provide a better quality of life and help “settle populations” in these regions of the Portuguese-Spanish border, where are witnessing an aging population and increasing desertification of the territory.

In a dispatch published in the Official Gazette on December 13, the Government establishes that the Alcoutim-Sanlúcar crossing aims to establish the “interconnection of the two banks of the Guadiana River between the Portuguese and Spanish road networks, favoring the cultural, social and economic approximation of the axis inter-regional Alentejo-Algarve-Andalusia”.

The project also aims to “develop inland territories and promote territorial cohesion”, contributing to “the pursuit of objectives of the Common Cross-Border Development Strategy, established at the Portuguese-Spanish Summit in October 2020”, as well as to strengthen cooperation between the regions of Algarve and Andalusia, within the scope of the Euroregion EUROAAA, which also includes Alentejo, said the executive at the time.