Feira Popular, Urban Park or both? The future of Pontinha is under discussion

It was in Carnide, on a 20 hectare site, that the Feira Popular de Lisboa was to be installed, a facility that operated until 2003 in Entrecampos. It was also in Carnide, on the same site, that a new Urban Park was planned, the future Parque Urbano da Pontinha/Carnide. The two projects would coexist in the same space, with one of them being completed first.

From the announcement of the project in 2015 to today six years have passed... and neither Feira Popular nor Urban Park is ready. In fact, the Feira Popular project has never gone beyond the preliminary phase, i.e., there is a general idea of what that equipment could be, but nothing in detail. A public participation site was launched and an environmental impact study was conducted, which also went through a public consultation phase.

But for there to be a Feira Popular (scheduled for 2020) there would first have to be an Urban Park where the future amusement park would be integrated; and as for the latter... well, the works progressed very slowly over the years and the different deadlines were missed. The opening to the public of the Urban Park was scheduled for 2018, was postponed to 2019, then 2020, and finally 2021. What stage are the works at? Stalled again, but we'll get to that in detail in a moment. Let's start with Moedas' statements that reignited the Feira Popular issue: in an interview, the mayor said he wants to give up the Feira Popular and just make the Green Park, but with a public swimming pool, but the left-wing opposition criticizes the decision and wants the Feira anyway - even if it's in another location.

The Currency position

It was in an interview to Rádio RenascençaOn the sidelines of this weekend's PSD Congress, Carlos Moedas clarified his position regarding the Feira Popular: "The concept of the Feira Popular today no longer makes the same sense as it did 20 or 30 years ago. We have to rethink that concept"said the current Mayor of Lisbon, mentioning that he wants to look at the project as "really the New People's Fair". For Coins, "makes a lot more sense" create there "a green park with equipment for people" than an amusement park that, in reality, "has never been achieved".

"Those kinds of amusement parks in the city center don't make the same sense that they did in the past. We can have amusement. We can have a part of the park with some equipment for that kind of amusement. But we can't have a park, as has been wrongly thought of, like Eurodisney. That's not going to happen."explained Carlos Moedas to Renascença. "Those kinds of companies are not looking at the city centers, they usually build outside the center. We have to look at the needs of the population, and I think what the population would like to have is equipment for children, young people, and the elderly."

Already this Wednesday, July 6th, Carlos Moedas referred to on the sidelines of a ceremony at the City Hall that "it's not a question here of giving up on the project, it's that even if I didn't give up, it would disappear on its own"adding that "there is no one" interested in investing in the Feira Popular project in Carnide, so the previous executive "never did anything about it". "Nowadays there is, in a way, not even a demand for these kinds of amusement parks within cities, that is, we are not even in a scenario where there is demand, with promoters who want to do this kind of thing"he said.

Moedas also said that has "there were problems with the foreman" e "some technical problems"but assured that "the state of play is to really start cleaning up the land, which is not in condition and cannot be in that condition, and then really think about this equipment project for that part of town. That's what we have to do.".

The history of Feira Popular and Parque Urbano

In 2003, the Feira Popular de Lisboa closed down by decision of the Santana Lopes (PSD) executive at the time - the equipment was located in Entrecampos, right in the city center. It was the second location of the fair, which had opened in 1943 in Palhavã (now Praça de Espanha). In November 2015, Fernando Medina, Mayor of Lisbon at the time, announced the return of the Feira Popular, and a year later, in November 2016, the work was started.

At the site of the future Feira Popular, where a political ceremony and some demolition work took place, Medina pointed out that the return of this social equipment intended settle the debt "that the city has since 2004 to hundreds of thousands of youth, children, parents, grandparents and family members"nicknaming that day "historic for the city"for marking the "the beginning of the return of Feira to Lisbon and to the people of Lisbon".. The then mayor criticized the "bad decisions" that led the city to go more than a decade without "your People's Fair" and pointed out that the new infrastructure would not be "an amusement park of some multinational, of some brand, just like so many others"Nor is it the same as the old Feira Popular - the idea was to reinvent the concept with entertainment. "more modern, more attractive" than those of Entrecampos.

Months earlier, on June 1, 2016, the Lisbon City Council had launched a website - at the address feirapopularlisboa.pt - to tell stories and testimonies related to Feira Popular and also to collect contributions from the population for the new equipment. Although the site is no longer available is preserved at Arquivo.ptit allowed interested parties to indicate what aspects they valued most in the future Fair (for example, the price of admission, food, parking...), what traditional entertainments they would like to have again (Ferris wheel, bumper cars, horror house...) and what new valences they wanted the new Fair to have (street food), a theater and concert hall, a book fair, wi-fi, a mascot, sports facilities...).

On that same site, the project was summarized this way: "high quality and accessible urban green park; connection to the history and memory of Feira Popular de Lisboa, but a project of quality and modernity; objective of rehabilitation of the entire area and surroundings; project with equipment and attractions for families and for adventure and adrenaline lovers; approximately 20 hectares of land (4 x larger than the previous Feira Popular in Entrecampos)".

But, despite being the big highlight in terms of communication, the construction of the Feira Popular was not the big priority. In 2018, the new amusement park would not be ready yet, only the 20-hectare Urban Park in which the Feira Popular would be integrated. The local authority's idea was to grant the Fair to a private entity that would manage it and also the entire Urban Park (which, by the way, has already had several names: from "Parque Verde da Feira Popular de Lisboa" to "Parque Urbano da Pontinha" or, more recently, "Parque Urbano de Carnide"). Outside the Urban Park concession, only a green area annexed to the Padre Cruz Neighborhood and meanwhile baptized as "Jardim dos Professores" (Teachers' Garden) would remain.

The work for the Urban Park had two starts. A first one between the end of 2016 and 2018, during which the ground was shaped and consolidated and natural drainage basins were created. But by the middle of summer 2019, the entire construction site was already abandoned. In September of that year, the machines returned to the space and the construction work has continued to this day, seemingly stalled again. Walls and electrical installations were built, pedestrian paths were marked out, bicycle parking lots were installed, and some of the outdoor areas were finished (where the replacement of a bicycle path is included), and planted various trees and shrubs.

A 2018 video from the Lisbon City Council showed the state of the works that year:

The Feira Popular that never existed and the Urban Park left to abandonment

On April 22nd of this year, in a open class promoted by the Lisbon Urban Information Center (CIUL), an official from the Municipal Directorate for Green Structure, Environment and Energy at CML said that she had recently visited the Carnide Urban Park and that it was almost ready to open. However, this opening promised for this year (and which has not yet happened) was first indicated for the beginning of 2018, then for the end of that year, was later pushed to 2019 and then to 2020, and, at the end of Medina's mandate, was announced for 2021. That same year, TVI made a report noting the delay in the project and presenting, with images of areas, the state of the work, which does not differ much from the situation that Lisboa Para Pessoas was able to observe this week.

"Right now what exists is a handful of nothing and still, much to our regret, without much involvement from the people who live here, who study here and who work here"commented at the time the President of the Carnide Parish Council, Fábio Sousa (CDU). The statements of the person in charge of the parish where the Feira Popular and respective Urban Park would be inserted are not much different from those he has now made to the Lusa news agency, after Carlos Moedas' position was made public. "I'm obviously not opposed to the construction of the green park, and then if it comes accompanied by equipment for the population's enjoyment, be it sports, like a swimming pool, sports equipment and social equipment, obviously I'm not opposed to any of that"he told Lusa.

For Fábio Sousa, the important thing is that the land where it has taken a while for something to be born will be an opportunity for development for the parish and with real benefits for the people who live nearby. "That was even the position that I conveyed to the Mayor. I said that we were not here to complicate things, obviously, and that what we wanted was that, in fact, that was a great opportunity, and that, like the Feira Popular project, we saw it as a great opportunity for the development of the parish, namely in the creation of jobs, in the improvement of security conditions. (...) That is, what we want is that [any] project for that territory be a great opportunity for local development."

To the Lusa agency, the President of the Carnide Council also showed concern with the current situation of the land for the future Urban Park. "The place looks scary. Very tall canes and reeds, next to a giant amount of trees that have been planted - and rightly so - but that we're not sure how often to water."The construction work has been suspended for about a year and the contractor left several boxes of flammable materials on the ground, in addition to the existence of open-air, unprotected, unattended ponds with water. Fábio Sousa also said that the council cannot take the initiative to intervene in the space, because it is not its responsibility, but it has already told the council that it wants to "be part of the solution"The company has a team of gardeners, or even vacation occupation programs for young people.

The coalition program New TimesCarlos Moedas, with whom he became president of the Lisbon City Hall, was not clear about the future of Feira Popular. O document spoke only in "transform the current Feira Popular project to provide for a new Urban Park"which was already the project underway (as mentioned, the Feira Popular would be integrated into this Urban Park). In the program, one could read, however, that the will was to equip this Urban Park with "leisure and sports facilities, including a new, large, environmentally innovative, natural outdoor swimming pool in Carnide"and with "cultural facilities".

New Feira Popular already had an Environmental Impact Study

The public tender for the Feira Popular was never launched, so it was never clear what it would look like in concrete terms. In the preliminary programs, it was decided not to specify what this equipment would be like, leaving it up to the future concessionaire, winner of this public contest, to draw up the Fair's project. The contributions of the population through the aforementioned website could be incorporated into this detailed definition of the Fair. The concessionaire would be responsible for all the construction costs of the Fair; the Lisbon City Hall would only leave the Urban Park ready for the installation of the amusement park in an area not exceeding 61 thousand square meters.

"The proponent of this project, the Municipality of Lisbon, intends to develop the Feira Popular project under a public works concession. The concessionaire will be selected through a public tender and will be responsible for the conception, financing, design, construction, maintenance and operation of Feira Popular de Lisboa. Given the complete integration of Feira Popular into the Green Park, the concessionaire will also assume responsibility for its operation and maintenance, seeking to maintain its role as a green infrastructure."

- Technical Summary Environmental Impact Assessment (2019/20)

"Feira Popular de Lisboa shall be equipped and characterized so as to have the capacity to receive at least 1,300,000 visitors annually, privileging a high level of technological integration, with an adequate dimensioning at the level of internal routes, ticket offices, sanitary facilities, restaurant spaces and informal leisure areas and the offer of attractions, in which at least one attraction classifiable as an Anchor Attraction shall stand out."

- Technical Summary Environmental Impact Assessment (2019/20)

O Environmental Impact Study of Feira Popular de Lisboa was in public consultation on the Participa website between December 2019 and January of the following year, with this process being concluded in April 2020. In one of the documents made available to the population, it was read that besides Carnide two other options were considered: one at Poço do Bispo Docks, an option discarded because the Port of Lisbon Administration "has not shown any willingness with the Municipality to release the area necessary for the realization of the project"and another in the northern part of Parque das Nações, which "has proven inadequate on a technical and financial level due to the expenses required for soil decontamination, since the former landfill of Beirolas was installed there, and also due to the absence of essential infrastructure, such as public transportation network and the subway station".

In this documentation, a tariff proposal for the new Feira was also presented: a fixed price of 2.50 euros for access to the fairground within the Urban Park, with special conditions for children under three years old, disabled people, pensioners, families and large groups. In the first year of activity, a total revenue of 33 million Euros was expected and the creation of about 600 new direct jobs with the new Feira Popular de Lisboa. As for the number of visitors, it was estimated between 1.3 million ("conservative scenario based on the last year of operation of Feira Popular in Entrecampos") and 2.5 million, i.e., much more than the Zoo (one million) or the Oceanarium (1.4 million).

You can consult the essential documentation here:

The conclusion of the Environmental Impact Study of Feira Popular de Lisboa was essential for the launching of the public tender that would allow to find the concessionaire and contractor who would realize the future Fair in the Urban Park that the Chamber would meanwhile finish.

The position of residents and the opposition

An association of residents of Carnide - the Neighborhood Association of Bairro Novo de Carnide and Quinta do Bom Nome - was pleased with the change in the Feira Popular project announced by Moedas. "I see it with great hope that it will actually become a reality, because that was the wish of the residents"said its president, Carlos Durão. To Lusa news agencyhe was concerned about the impact that "an amusement park like Eurodisney or others that exist around Europe" would cause "within a residential area"The future Feira Popular would not be in any way similar to a Eurodisney and would also be different from the version previously installed in Entrecampos.

According to Carlos Durão, the Neighbourhood Association of Bairro Novo de Carnide and Quinta do Bom Nome had been invited by the previous mayor, together with the Neighbourhood Association of Bairro Padre Cruz, to be part of a committee to monitor the project of the future Feira Popular. According to the same representative, this committee held only two meetings, one after the presentation in 2015 and the last one in 2017. "There was nothing yet, from a concrete point of view, of what the space was going to be, because no contracts were signed"said Carlos Durão, referring to the balance of these two meetings. THE Associação de Moradores do Bairro Padre Cruz was not available to talk to Lusa.

PS, PCP, and BE have already reacted to Carlos Moedas' statements. In a nutshell:

• PS: the socialists reacted in a note sent to the Lusa agency, accusing the mayor of lacking vision and ambition to govern the city. "Carlos Moedas' trademark, as we have seen once again today, is not to do. Faced with the challenge of something that might give work, or generate some criticism, Moedas backs off, suspends or cancels".. For his part, the Mayor of Odivelas, Hugo Martins, also a socialist, was surprised by Moedas' statements about the project "which, as is public knowledge, is a project that also involves the municipalities of Odivelas and Amadora" (the Urban Park and its Feira Popular would be integrated with some public space investments on the Odivelas side).
• PCP: the communists understand that "Lisbon must have a Feira Popular", that is, "a space for fun, enjoyment and leisure, in the open air, for those who live in Lisbon, for those who visit the city, a meeting place for generations, with markedly popular characteristics". The PCP said that "was available to consider other hypotheses for the location of Feira Popular, and agreed with the solution found in Carnide, while pointing out and criticizing the lack of prior involvement of the population, particularly the local population, and the Parish Council of Carnide in the choice of the site". The communist councilors regret that, in the face of Moedas' announcement that the Feira Popular project in Carnide has been abandoned, it has not been "formally presented to CML any alternative proposal for the municipal land next to Bairro Padre Cruz"and they are available to discuss these alternatives, "whereas any different project for the Carnide land should be accompanied by a proposal for an alternative location for Feira Popular". The PCP also made a point of "underline that the project then presented consisted of a Popular Fair with distinct characteristics from the one previously existing in Entrecampos, foreseeing its integration in an Urban Park, which would be an added value for local populations, while reducing the direct impact of the equipment on the nearest resident population"; but considered "unacceptable the time that has been lost since the decision [to take the Feira Popular to Carnide] until now and the state in which those lands are, in a situation of insalubrity, abandonment and danger".
• BE: already the blockists understand that Moedas' declarations are "unacceptable" and point out that, "in October 2003, [the Feira Popular] was closed, as a result of enormous real estate pressure on the Entrecampos land" (That land was eventually sold to Fidelity Properties in 2018). "The Mayor of the CML says that these amusement spaces don't make sense in the city because he has given up governing for those who live here, focusing only on tourism and real estate"pointed out the party that in the Lisbon City Hall is represented by councilwoman Beatriz Gomes Dias. "The Left Bloc has always argued that the Feira Popular should return integrated into a redeveloped space that would combine a large urban park with popular entertainment area, just as we have always criticized the PS's lack of clarity about the format and involvement of private parties in this project." The note sent by the bloquistas to the editors ends by saying that the party "will present proposals at CML and AML so that Lisbon does not lose Feira Popular and will question Carlos Moedas about the destination that he will give those lands in Carnide"because it believes that the Feira Popular should be recreated "with entertainment area and a large urban park open to the public, with good public transport supply" and not abandon this project.

The completion of the Urban Park and the subsequent creation of the Feira Popular would create a new centrality in Pontinhawhich today is already one of the city's main public transport interfaces - the arrival point of several suburban bus lines, the transit point of several Carris lines and also an entry point to the Lisbon Metro network. The entire area was redeveloped between 2017 and 2018 with that intermodal future in mind. For Pontinha, one of the largest parking lots in the city with a deterrent function is also planned - around 1,800 spaces are planned near the Metro station.

Pontinha awaits the construction of this park that will complete the public space intervention already carried out at the site and that is on EMEL's calendar for 2025 - two pedestrian bridges are planned to connect the park directly to the Metro square and the Urban Park.

Article updated at 17:20 on July 6.