Posted on January 12, 2026
After years of delay and overcoming the “difficulties of the administrative procedures, which are extremely complicated in Portugal,” the artificial beach nourishment project on the Quarteira-Garrão stretch, in the municipality of Loulé, begins this Monday, January 12th, and “will be completed before the bathing season,” the Minister of the Environment assured.
“The timing is in the contract” for the construction project signed this Saturday, January 10th, by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the contractor responsible for the work in Quarteira.
With Praia do Forte Novo as a backdrop – a place where the consequences of the delayed sand replenishment have been most visible, mainly since 2024 – Maria da Graça Carvalho explained that the contract signed yesterday only concerns the replenishment of sand (around 9 million), “but then there is all the rest of the walkway works and the arrangements that need to be made.” The total is thus 14,9 million.
Furthermore, the person responsible for the environment portfolio in Luís Montenegro’s government will then “look at the breakwaters, which already have a project and environmental authorization and which will also move forward very soon.”
“Our main motto in my ministry is to get things done. There are many delayed projects, and it’s important to solve the problems. This is a problem that, if it weren’t moved forward on Monday, wouldn’t be finished before the bathing season, and so it will be finished before then. It’s extremely important for the Algarve and for Quarteira to have a sandy beach, and therefore it’s the government’s obligation to resolve this issue,” stressed Maria da Graça Carvalho.
Questioned by Sul Informação Regarding what needs to be done now so that, in 10 years, there is no further delay in sand replenishment, the minister said that “we need a government that acts as we have now.”
“As soon as we arrived, we started dealing with this and other projects, but we had legislative elections, we had local elections (…) and therefore we lost about five months during this election period. It is also important that people are aware that democracy also has a price in this type of issue,” he said.
Maria da Graça Carvalho also pointed out that “the procedures in Portugal are complex” and that this is a case where “all the procedures take longer than the work itself.”
“It’s something we’re trying to change by modernizing administrative procedures so that projects can be completed much faster and action can be taken, because our country is relatively vulnerable to climate change,” he added.
Regarding the sand replenishment project, José Pimenta Machado, president of APA, explained that “the dredger that will be used is a high-performance dredger” and that, therefore, “the actual sand replenishment work for the beach will take two months,” to which is added the time for “preparatory work, construction site, surveys,” etc.
Furthermore, the head of the APA pointed out that, with this intervention, “the beach will grow 40 meters in width”.
Another “relevant fact,” according to Pimenta Machado, is that “what is normal every 10 years is to put one million cubic meters [of sand] here, but this year we are going to increase it to one million four hundred thousand.”
Thus, the “lifespan” of this replacement could be greater than 10 years, if nature allows it.
Telmo Pinto, the mayor of Loulé, stated that the municipality is “prepared to plan the next cycle in advance” and recalled that the municipality has always been in agreement with the Ministry of the Environment and available to resolve problems.
Last Friday, January 9th, the Algarve Socialist Party also commented on the issue.
“When we look at the projections of the consequences of rising sea levels and the foreseeable effects of climate change on the Portuguese coastal areas, we clearly understand the risks that the Algarve region faces. Defending the Algarve coast is more than just an environmental issue; it is a matter of territorial sovereignty and an economic imperative. Without beaches, without white sand, without golden cliffs, there will be no tourism, the main regional economic activity and responsible for about 8% of national exports of goods and services,” argued President Luís Graça in a note sent to newsrooms.
Thus, according to the socialist leader, sediment replenishment operations must become “systematic, with regular artificial nourishment interventions, both submerged and above water, on beaches and stretches of coastline most exposed to the effects of erosion, and the corresponding reinforcement of the dune system and cliffs.”
“In another dimension, that of land planning and management, it is important to ensure soil nutrition and that sediments can freely flow through streams and rivers and reach the sea and beaches where they are needed to combat the current sediment deficit, as well as the definition of safeguard zones, non-building zones and protection of cliffs and bluffs,” argued the opposition party.
