Filipe Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP) was speaking at an extraordinary meeting of the 8th Permanent Committee of the Lisbon Municipal Assembly, admitting that “Downtown Lisbon is a vulnerable area and that it needs to be protected”.

“There is a certain exaggeration in the claim of collapse”, he highlighted, however, remembering that the executive is working on solutions to minimise the concerns of residents and the president of the Parish Council of Santa Maria Maior, Miguel Coelho (PS).

Among the points of the meeting was the discussion of the petition “Pedestrianization of Rua da Prata, the risks of doing so without rethinking mobility in downtown Lisbon”, already signed by more than 900 people.

“In Rua da Madalena, the information that has reached us is that there is no sanitation problem”, said the vice president, adding that the chamber has “human monitoring systems that are not constant”.

Filipe Anacoreta Correia recalled that when the municipality had an indication that there was a risk of collapse on that road – which happened on Rua da Prata in December 2022 – “the council's services were mobilised, which realised that there was no danger of subsidence or collapse.”

“We know that the territories of Baixa and Rua da Madalena, in particular, are vulnerable”, he reiterated.

Rua da Prata, which has been under construction since December 2022, reopened at the end of November, with the replacement of the tram 15 route and a cycle-pedestrian channel, leaving it closed to car traffic, which led to more upward traffic accumulating on Rua da Madalena.

On February 20, Miguel Coelho warned of the risk of collapse on Rua da Madalena, following the closure to traffic on the neighbouring road, and criticised the municipal executive.

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