Africa-Press – Cape verde. A group of truck drivers demonstrated today in front of the São Vicente City Council (CMSV). They are demanding concrete measures to address the alleged shortage of sand on the island, a problem that has been going on for several years.
Amândio Lima, one of the truck drivers in the protest and representing the group, accuses the local authority of continuing to sell tickets to supply sand at Lazareto, even when there is no sand available for extraction.
“We are protesting to alert those responsible to provide us with sand. When the sand runs out, they close the place and do not find any alternative route, and we are left without a livelihood. We even buy tickets for sand here at the City Council and then they do not have sand to sell us,” he says.
To get around the lack of sand, the truck drivers have allegedly resorted to illegal extraction in restricted areas.
Amândio Lima calls for an effective solution to manage the extraction and distribution of sand on the island.
“The authorities are aware of this because this is not the first time it has happened, it has been recurring and they have not taken any definitive measures to address it. If we go to Lazareto we don’t find any sand, we look for a solution in the Salgadim area, because most people get by in the sand collection area for a day’s work, and they have had our trucks seized there several times. We returned to Lazareto today to see if there was a solution but there was none, so we came to protest to get answers”, he argues.
In response, and representing the city council, councillor José Carlos da Luz clarifies that the management of sand extraction and distribution is not a direct responsibility of the City Council. However, he guarantees that the local authority is looking for solutions with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment to mitigate the problem.
“Of course, we know that although [Lazareto] is the only place in São Vicente to collect sand, the sand is not of good quality, and not only that, these truck drivers have difficulty in placing that sand, let’s say, in private works and not only that, because there is also illegal sand collected in other places and of better quality. We are aware of the difficulties, today we sent a machine to replenish the sand stock, and we will try, together with the Ministry of the Environment, to establish a temporary location to collect sand, because we know that it has been extremely difficult to supply sand to the market in São Vicente”, he assures.
As an immediate measure, the sale of supply vouchers, according to the mayor, should be suspended from today until the situation returns to normal.
We tried to get a response from the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in São Vicente, but it was not possible to date.
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