Alcácer do Sal Awards a 1.9 Million Euro Contract to Shore Up the Castle Hillside That Storm Kristin Sent Sliding

Alcácer do Sal council has awarded the contract to stabilise the southern slope below the town's castle, a job it puts at about 1.94 million euros, after storm Kristin set off repeated landslides there at the start of the year. The executive approved the award on Thursday, 12 November, the council said in a statement.

The work targets the stretches of hillside above the Estrada de Santa Luzia and the access road to the Bairro da Graça neighbourhood, where unstable ground has put residents and road users at risk. The council describes it as a large intervention meant to prevent new slides, not only to repair storm damage.

A problem two decades old

The council says the instability has dragged on for about 20 years and grew worse with this year's storms. The public procurement portal shows it paid a geotechnical firm, Geocontrole, 15,374 euros in late 2019 to survey the ground under Avenida dos Aviadores and the castle hillside.

After Kristin passed in February, the council asked for Army engineers, who stabilised the slope after it gave way "in several places and repeatedly", Observador reported, citing Lusa. The officer commanding the detachment from Engineering Regiment No. 1 in Tancos told Lusa that parts of the embankment below the castle wall had given way and that several sections of earth had fallen.

Who is involved and who pays

The works will be coordinated between the contractor, the council, Património Cultural (the state's public heritage institute) and the CCDR Alentejo, the regional coordination and development commission. The council has not named the contractor or given a start date or a timetable.

The proposal passed by a majority, with one councillor, Mário Caixas, abstaining. The council says it is working to secure outside funding for the cost, since this is only the first of several contracts it plans in order to consolidate the whole hillside. It has not said which programme it is applying to. State aid for Kristin damage has passed 600 million euros nationally, but payments have slowed sharply since July.

What it means for you

• If you live in or drive through the streets below the castle, especially the Estrada de Santa Luzia and the road into Bairro da Graça, expect a construction site once work begins. The council has not yet published any closures or diversions.
• This first contract covers only part of the slope. Further works will follow, depending on funding.
• For questions about the works or your street, contact the Câmara Municipal (town hall) through the council's website.