Herdade de Comporta

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The Herdade de Comporta estate is one of the largest agricultural businesses in Portugal and was privately owned by the Espírito Santo Group until it went bankrupt and dissolved in 2014. The main business is still rice and wine growing , but investments have been made in recent years Tourism more and more in the foreground.

history

In 1836 rice cultivation began in the Herdade de Comporta area and was owned by the Companhia das Lezírias do Tejo e do Sado , which in turn was owned by the Portuguese Crown. In 1925 the Herdade de Comporta was sold to the British company The Atlantic Company, Ltd. In 1955, the Espírito Santo family acquired the property from Atlantic. The income from rice cultivation and the use of the pine forest has increased steadily from now on, and the forest areas have been further enlarged through acquisitions. In addition, the rehabilitation of the villages began by building supply networks and housing developments and schools for the farm workers. The property was nationalized in 1975 as part of the Carnation Revolution and briefly returned to The Atlantic Company, Ltd until 1989. and 1991. Since 1991 the 'Herdade de Comporta' is again owned by the Espírito Santo group . The company name was renamed Herdade da Comporta - Atividades Agro Silvícolas e Turísticas, SA in 2004. The name already shows that the development of local tourism has played a major role ever since.

Development of tourism

In 2010 the Espírito Santo Group decided to build a large hotel complex in the forest and dune area, which should have an attached golf course. In the final stage of development, the complex is to include a total of three hotels with 11 holiday villages. The total construction time is estimated at 10 to 15 years and the construction progress depends on the success of the sections completed first. The company Rioforte was founded especially for hotel production and began building the first Hotel Aman in 2013. The managing director of Rioforte is Adrian Zecha, who is responsible for the construction of the overall "Comporta Dunes" project. The first construction phase of the major "Comporta Dunes" project consists of building the hotel near the town of Carvahal (Praia do Pego). Funding of 92 million euros is necessary for this. A share of 40 million euros is earmarked for the construction of the Aman Hotel. This hotel should be located in a luxury segment with 40 rooms (135 m² per room). Half of the rooms are to have their own swimming pool. A SPA with 2000 m² is to form the center of the hotel. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2015. A model apartment has already been created, but it is subject to great secrecy. With this building, the Espírito Santo Group wants to achieve a high luxury standard (built with ISO norms) in order to start a first "initial impulse". Carlos Beirão da Veiga, President of Herdade de Comporta, sees the construction of the Hotel Aman as a high quality contribution to the international luxury hotel segment and it is expected that international tourism organizations will conclude contracts here. In addition to the Hotel Aman, 36 beach houses will also be completed in the first phase, the buyers of which can fall back on the offers of the luxury hotel. Another complex with 51 houses is being built in cooperation with the German real estate company DC Residential. This participation is of particular importance for Espírito Santo , as the German company aims to open up the German, Austrian and Swiss markets.

Comporta Beach

The 18-hole golf course should be completed by the end of 2014. It has the "Championship" category and is suitable for hosting international competitions. The modern and luxurious clubhouse was designed by the architect Eduardo Souto Moura. The golf course is to be built on a total area of ​​100 hectares in the dune and pine belt of the coast. An area that was previously intended for nature conservation. The local authorities and the regional government under the leadership of the former PS politicians did not bother to issue building permits and relaxed the requirements of the nature reserve against the protests of local environmental protection groups from Quercus . In the meantime, after the regional elections , the PS government was replaced by the local PCP in the Grândola district , which won the election against the PS candidates . It will be interesting to see how this party handles the relationship with the construction managers of Espírito Santo . The old PS government had already approved all 11 holiday settlement projects in all further expansion stages in advance, although the builders today do not even know whether they will actually build all stages. This is made dependent on the success of the project. In any case, some of the projects are planned to start construction in early 2015 after the first construction phase with the hotel has been completed. The construction of a project Comporta Link "which was also to be carried out by Herdade de Comporta was halted. This project should also receive another golf course.

Construction freeze due to bankruptcy of the Espiríto Santo Group (GES)

At the beginning of August 2014, the Espírito Santo group and with it its Rioforte fund became insolvent. Since then there has been a construction freeze on all Herdade de Comporta projects, which Rioforte was the owner. All of the company's assets were confiscated by the Portuguese state. A Luxembourg court had previously ruled Rioforte's bankruptcy. The hotel project (Aman Hotel) that had been started has since been taken over by the US Hyatt Group, but was not yet operational in summer 2015. Further sales were stopped for the time being.

Consequences of the tourism projects for the Alentejo Littoral coast

The sale of two large pieces of land owned by Herdade de Comporta, owned by the bankrupt Espírito Santo Group (GES), has been completed by GESFIMO (the management company of the remaining Espírito Santo assets). Paula Amorim, the daughter of the Portuguese billionaire Americo Amourim and the company Vanguard of the French millionaire Claude Berda jointly made a proposal for the use of this area and won the tender at the end of 2018. The current projects (ADT2 and ADT3) relate to 365 and 551 hectares, for which the districts of Alcácer do Sal and Grândola have already submitted development plans. These plans include zones for luxury hotels, holiday villages / apartments and golf courses with the maximum number of 11,911 beds.

The projects will destroy large parts of the previously intact dune landscape and the pine forest that is supposed to secure these dunes. The consequences are therefore incalculable for the coastal area of ​​the Alentejo Litoral . The foreseeable increase in drinking water consumption due to the golf course and pools will further reduce both the low groundwater level in this area. It remains to be seen whether the local population will actually benefit from the hotel business. The luxury tourism with its golf courses, the SPA hotels and the luxury beach houses / apartments will take place in secret, hermetically shielded from the rest of the life of the local population.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1] , accessed on December 2, 2013
  2. ↑ [2] , accessed on December 2, 2013
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 2, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mobil.kbnk.de
  4. ↑ [3] , accessed on December 2, 2013
  5. ↑ [4] , accessed on September 25, 2015 Report in the journal "Público"
  6. ↑ [5] , accessed on October 25, 2018 Report in the journal "Público"

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