Posted on December 10, 2025
The coastal protection project between Praia da Rocha and Praia do Vau, in Portimão, is expected to be completed in May, and have a total cost of around two million euros.
During a visit to the site, the Minister of the Environment Maria da Graça Carvalho explained to journalists that the ongoing artificial sand replenishment will solve the problem of sand scarcity along that stretch, at least for a “long period” of years, also mitigating the erosion of the cliffs.
“It’s a project that will cost around €2 million. 220,000 cubic metres of sand are being transported along a 1,350-metre stretch of beach,” she said, clarifying that the sand will be taken from Praia da Rocha to the other beaches.
The project will “shorten the distance to the sea at Praia da Rocha, which is too long, and transport that sand to the beaches as far as Alvor,” specified Maria da Graça Carvalho, emphasizing that this is a crucial intervention to protect this area of the Algarve coast.
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This is one of the first interventions, financed by the Sustainable Operational Program, with the national participation of the Environmental Fund. The next one is planned to be a larger one on the coastal strip between Quarteira and Garrão, in the municipality of Loulé.
“We will sign the contract for Garrão at the very beginning [of the year] – we are trying to have it by Epiphany – and that is a larger, more complex project, worth almost 15 million euros,” she stated, stressing that it is a much-needed area that has suffered from erosion for many years.
The work in Portimão began in early November and is expected to last seven months, with completion scheduled for May. However, according to the minister, the company is being asked to make an effort to ensure that most of the beach is usable from April onwards.
“We have funding of around €140 million from the Cohesion Fund until 2028 and we want […] to carry out the essential works on the coastline throughout the country,” said the minister.
After visiting the work in Portimão, the Minister of the Environment went to Quinta do Lago, in the municipality of Loulé, where she inaugurated a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) designed to treat water for the irrigation of golf courses and public gardens.
