Opposition in Lisbon Chamber criticizes lack of transparency in investments for World Youth Day – Society
The PS, PCP and BE councilors in the Lisbon Chamber criticized this Wednesday the lack of transparency of the PSD/CDS-PP leadership in the municipality’s investments for the World Youth Day, including the stage-altar contracted for 4.24 million of euros.
From the PS council, Pedro Anastácio supervised clarifications from the PSD/CDS-PP leadership, which governs without an absolute majority, on the direct contract for the work for the stage-altar of the World Youth Day (WYD), for the value of 4 .24 million euros, considering that there is “an absolute lack of transparency” and warning that this amount “exceeds the legal limits of exception” defined for the organization of the event.
According to information made available on the Public Procurement Base Portal, the construction of the stage-altar “was awarded for 4.24 million euros (plus VAT)”, adding to that value “1.06 million euros for foundations indirect coverage”.
The socialist Pedro Anastácio questioned about the change in the procedures of the company SRU for communication with all members of the executive regarding the works for the WYD and about the involvement of the promoter of events Álvaro Covões and as a representative of the municipality.
PCP councilor João Ferreira reiterated the request he made on Thursday to have access to the ‘dossier’ on WYD, specifying the “difficult situation” of preparing WYD when in the previous executive “little happened”, but he highlighted the duties of transparency and rigor, criticizing the lack of information about investment in the altar stage and expressing doubts about how “a project of this nature can be used in the future”.
With a request presented in July on the contracts for the celebration of the WYD, so that there is transparency, the sole councilor of the BE, Beatriz Gomes Dias, asked again about compliance with the Public Contracts Code, referring to the cost for the stage -altar “is very anxious” and considered that “it is inexplicable that a direct adjustment contract is made for this value”, concluding that “it is a bad decision”.
In response, the Mayor of Lisbon underlined that he was “the first” to show concern about the costs of WYD, recalling the dialogue he had with the Government and the Church, so that “all costs were calculated and that everything was transparent”, in which he assumed that the municipality would not go “beyond 35 million euros” in terms of investment in the event.
“I was concerned about the details of these costs, but I was really concerned: who did it, who paid for the screens, if it was the Government, if it was the council, who paid for the bathrooms, if it was the Government, if it was a chamber. All of this was discussed and all of this was worked on and all of this was agreed”, said Carlos Moedas (PSD).
As for contracts by direct agreement, the mayor defended that it was the only way to have everything ready for the opening day of the WYD, which will take place from the 1st to the 6th of August.
“The only way we have, effectively, to get everything ready that day is the so-called direct adjustment, but I didn’t go, and that decision was political, we didn’t go for what would be a pure direct adjustment”, explained Carlos Moedas, explaining that the contract for the work for the stage-altar was made after consulting seven companies, in which they were submitted to different proposals and “there were prices in the order of eight million euros”.
Ensuring that there was “all transparency”, in which companies were consulted and prices were lowered during the process, the PSD mayor concluded: “Here the most important question is not whether it is four million or five million [de euros]is that if we really want to hold an event of this size, it has to be done, it has to be realized, it is the image of Lisbon, it is our image, it is the image of the country”.
Responsible for preparing the WYD, the vice-president of the Lisbon Chamber, Filipe Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP), guaranteed that the works being carried out to host the event were accommodated in the city, including the stage-altar.
The mayor also classified that the works in question are “a gain” from an environmental point of view, because they take place on the land of the old Beirolas landfill and will have “a much greater return than the investment”, with an expected participation of 1.5 million people for six days, which could result in revenue “from 200 to 300 million euros”.
Last Thursday, the Lisbon City Council took out a medium and long-term loan, up to the amount of 15.3 million euros, to finance investments within the scope of WYD.
In a private meeting of the executive council, the proposal to take out a loan to finance works related to the preparation of the WYD was made possible among the 17 elected, with one vote against BE, nine abstentions – four from PS, two from PCP, two from Citizens For Lisbon (elected by the PS/Livre coalition) and one from Livre – and seven votes in favor of the “Novos Tempos” coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Aliança).
World Youth Day is the biggest meeting of young Catholics from all over the world with the Pope, which takes place every two or three years, between July and August.
Lisbon was the city chosen in 2019 to host the 2022 meeting, which was moved to 2023 due to the covid-19 pandemic.