Entrepreneurs, youths, workers and politicians interviewed by A Semana Online applaud the elevation of the category of Tarrafal de São Nicolau to that of municipality. Most of those interviewed gave a positive evaluation of the work carried out so far by the municipal installation commission, but its president António Soares and his staff have a lot of work ahead of them between now and the 2008 municipal elections.

Businessman Tomaz Gualdino Delgado believes that the creation of the municipality of Tarrafal de São Nicolau was worth the effort and says that this measure on the part of the government has brought more development and employment to the locale. “The installation commission, which is not an elected municipal government, has done an excellent job over its past two years carrying out public works, paving streets and resolving residents’ most pressing concerns.”

The managing associate of the firm Gualcom believes that if it were not for the scarcity of resources, the installation commission could have done much more. Even so, Gualdino Delgado affirms that the deficient air and sea links between São Nicolau and the rest of the country constitute one of the main problems the installation commission, along with the government, must resolve urgently.

António Miguel Conceição of construction company Empreitel Figueiredo, the father of seven children, considers himself a happy man, because, as he explains, Palhal, the village where he lives, is no longer isolated from the rest of the island - the region now has telephone service, and will soon see the electricity network extended to its inhabitants. “The creation of the municipality of Tarrafal was a good measure. The work the installation commission has done over the past two years had never been carried out on São Nicolau before. Its president, António Soares, is a concerned and hard-working man,” observes a visibly satisfied António Miguel.

This opinion is shared by Sagna, a young woman from the town of Tarrafal, is of the same opinion. This business management major, who studies in São Vicente’s IESIG institute o0f higher education, stresses that the installation commission has done a great deal of work and that Tarrafal is much more developed than it was two years ago. “There is, however, a lot of unemployment in the municipality, especially among younger age brackets. Many people don’t work because they don’t want to or because they don’t have a profession. That’s why I think the municipal and governmental authorities should give special attention to professional education,” she says.

José Joaquim Cabral, a representative of opposition party MpD in the municipal installation commission and one of the commission’s full-time members, says that Tarrafal has long offered the conditions that would have allowed it to become a full-fledged municipality. According to Cabral, this was a long-standing dream of local residents. “Tarrafal can even guarantee its own financial sustainability. The main source of revenues of the former São Nicolau municipal chamber was, over the past several years, based on the sale of lands, most of which were located in the territory that now belong to the municipality of Tarrafal,” stresses Cabral.

Installation commission president António Soares, for his part, concludes that the creation of the municipality of Tarrafal was a correct decision that has brought visible gains in all areas of activity, particularly with regards to the paving of streets, the construction of access roads to isolated villages, the improvement in teaching establishments throughout the municipality, the expansion of the electricity network into rural areas, sewage, and the construction of social and sports-related public works.

Soares affirms, however, that the installation commission, along with the central government and society at large, still has many challenges ahead of it, namely in the realm of territorial ordering and planning, fishing, transportation and tourism. Soares states that he is currently determined to ensure that the Tarrafal de São Nicolau municipal chamber comes out of the 2008 municipal elections with financial and logistical conditions to continue the work begun by his installation commission.

Source: A Semana