Chamber of Condeixa-a-Nova approves loans of 8 million per “precaution”

A Câmara de Condeixa-a-Nova, district of Coimbra, today approved the hiring of two loans of up to eight million euros (ME) for the works of the Health Center and Fernando Namora Secondary School, “for budgetary precaution”.

The proposals presented at the executive meeting included the abstention of the PSD and PS and the votes in favour of the Condeixa movement. New Paths, who leads City Hall.

“ The request of these two loans has merely and as sole justification to ensure alternatives of financing by budgetary precaution”, explained the mayor, Liliana Pimentel.

One of the medium and long-term loans up to EUR 1 million is intended to finance the requalification work of the Health Centre.

The other, which can go up to seven million euros, is intended to finance the rehabilitation of Fernando Namora High School.

Liliana Pimental said that the hiring of these loans “does not translate an intention of effective and immediate recourse to bank credit”, representing “a safeguard and prevention measure to ensure that the municipality has the necessary financial instruments to respond to changes in the timetables for the approval and availability of originally foreseen Community and national funds”.

According to the mayor, the intervention of the Health Center still has financial framework through the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), whose implementation continues until the end of the year.

Regarding the Fernando Namora Secondary School, which was also a candidate for the PRR, the decision on the application submitted to the EIB Schools programme is still pending, “whose approval is expected for the first months of 2027”.

“ The forecast and approval of these loans is a financial prudence option, allowing the municipality to anticipate alternative scenarios and safeguard the ability to implement public investments of recognised municipal interest, without being solely dependent on the timely confirmation of the originally identified sources of funding,” he said.

Still in the period before the agenda, and questioned by the opposition councilors on the works of the Health Center, the president explained that the forecast for it to be finished is “end of December”, admitting that other works, such as interior paintings, can be extended to 2027, it is expected that the change will take place in March.

The Social Democrat Avelino Santos justified the abstention of the PSD with the position of the party in terms of budget, expressing concern that the candidacy of the Fernando Namora School is not yet approved and, if not, the loan “would raise many difficulties” to the municipality.

The PS, in justifying the abstention, pointed out that the documentation provided “is essentially limited to the analysis of compliance with the legal limits of debt”, adding that respect for these limits “does not in itself guarantee the financial capacity” of the municipality to ensure, “sustainablely”, debt over the 20 years of loan duration.

In an explanation of vote, the Socialists acknowledged that the contextualization of the mayor “contributes to mitigate” some of the concerns, referring to the expectation that the loans would constitute “essentially fiscal feasibility exercises”, which is not expected to be used, which is still not enough.

“ As long as this expectation is not translated into concrete facts, our concerns about the financial impact and financing options of the municipality do not fade completely,” said António Figueiredo.

The decision taken today by the executive will still have to be submitted to the Municipal Assembly.