MPT Candidate for Loures Pledges to Legalize Urban Areas of Illegal Genesis (AUGI)
Isabel Elias, the presidential candidate for the Loures Municipal Chamber from the Movimento Partido da Terra (MPT), stated this Sunday her intention to legalize the municipality’s Áreas Urbanas de Génese Ilegal (AUGI). During a campaign action in Catujal, an area with a high concentration of such properties, Elias criticized the “fortunes” currently required from families to regularize their homes.
The candidate advocated for a “structured intervention, with strategy and planning” to manage the legalization of the council’s AUGI, describing the current process as unjust and overly burdensome for the population. “As is known, to legalize a neighborhood, there must be the lot subdivisions, the construction and architecture projects. Then, there must be the special projects for electricity, water, and sewage. All of this costs a fortune,” Elias pointed out, arguing that the process is prohibitive for many residents.
In her proposal, Elias asserted that the Câmara Municipal should adopt “a more active role in the regularization of AUGI.” She cited examples from other municipalities, such as Aveiras de Cima, where the local councils reportedly assumed the costs of legalization and infrastructure construction through protocols with residents' commissions. She advocated for Loures to “change the existing contracts and protocols between the municipality and the AUGI commissions” to facilitate a similar approach.
A legal expert from a Lisbon-based law firm, who requested anonymity, commented that “the regularization of AUGI is one of the most complex administrative and social challenges in Portuguese urban planning. A candidate making this a central plank of their platform in a major metropolitan council like Loures indicates the high political stakes involved. The financial model for covering the infrastructure costs is the critical point of contention in these processes.”
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However, the MPT candidate acknowledged that a blanket legalization would not be feasible, particularly for properties constructed on high-risk land. “There are many houses built on floodplains or on escarpments. We have to explain to the people and find quality relocation solutions, because safety has to come first,” Elias ressalved. This indicates that any future policy would need to include a component of risk assessment and potential rehousing for residents in unsafe locations.
The current Loures executive council is composed of four elected members from PS, four from CDU, two from PSD, and one from Chega. The issue of AUGI has been a persistent topic in the municipality for decades, affecting thousands of residents and representing a significant portion of the area's housing stock.
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