Brava: Mayor considers “legitimate” complaints and demands from the community of Baleia

The mayor of Brava today considered the complaints and claims of the population of Baleia to be legitimate, who call for greater attention from the Government and local entities in solving their problems.

Faced with complaints from residents of Baleia, calling for better conditions on the access road, improvements in the mobile network, public lighting, water, public employment, among other claims, Inforpress contacted the mayor who said he was aware of these claims and that he considers them “ legitimate”.

Francisco Tavares stressed that this location is the only one on Brava that does not have access by car and that over the last few years it has suffered a considerable decrease in its population, often of entire families moving to the United States, and, because of the difficulties in this area, many young people have been looking for other villages and even other islands to live.

As for the issue of public lighting, he highlighted that he was already aware of this concern and conveyed this concern to the person responsible for Electra on Brava, but that apparently, the situation has not been resolved, reinforcing that throughout the island, there has been a verification of public lighting of an “injection ” considerable number of new lighting points because there have been several lamps and posts that are no longer working and replacement has not been happening or has been happening slowly.

Regarding the mobile network, he explained that it is a question that has to do with the company that operates in this sense and that the city council made the request to the company, but this has its investment policies, and, often, it has to justify investments too big and strong for the signal to reach that location, but so far there has been no response.

In terms of water, he showed that there is a tanker truck to bring water and put it directly in the reservoir that supplies this locality, committing himself to inform together with the Intermunicipal Water Company, Águabrava, what is happening, emphasizing that the water problem it is from all locations because the source is offering little amount of water in relation to what is needed for human consumption by Brava.

However, he recognized that this locality suffers more, taking into account that there is no car access and the nearest locality with a road is three kilometers from the area.

Regarding public employment, he underlined that within the possibilities of the city council, it is the area that most opens work fronts with the population of this locality, two to three times a year, with an average duration of two months.

“It's little because a year has 12 months and the locality needs a lot of support and the best way to support it would be with public employment, but the current situation at national and even international level is not allowing the municipality to have resources available for the payment of labor to have more months of work for the population”, he justified, noting that in previous years, before the covid-19 pandemic, more work fronts were opened.

But, regarding the possibility of building a road, he said that he has to be clear that he is not seeing that possibility, and if in other times someone promised the road, it is something he does not do because it is a place with fewer and fewer people and the economic potential of the locality does not justify it.

However, he emphasized that, in order to improve their conditions, it is the municipal council's project to pave the path that connects Mato Grande to Baleia, and to see together with Electra ways to improve public lighting to minimize what is a structural reality of that locality.