The contract, whose public tender announcement was published in Diário da República (Official Gazette), provides for "the construction of the memorial, road access, including a turnaround area for circulation from the south and renovation of the marginal landscape of EN [national road] 236-1," said an official source from IP, in response to questions from Lusa news agency.

Along around two kilometres of the national road where many of the victims of the Pedrógão Grande fire died, "a number of different native tree species will also be planted", he added.

Most of the investment (around 1.4 million Euros) will be used to build the memorial, he said.

According to the same source, IP expects the work to be concluded during the first half of 2022.

In 2019, at a session held in the municipality of Castanheira de Pera, a protocol was signed between the Association of Victims of the Pedrógão Grande Fire (AVIPG) and Infraestruturas de Portugal for the construction of the memorial.

The design of the memorial is by the architect Eduardo Souto Moura, and will consist of a raft of water connected to a fountain, symbolising life and birth.

"Water as purification is a cross-cutting element in all cultures and religions," said the architect at the time, stressing that the water raft designed has the "dual function of evoking rebirth, which we think will happen and, if there is another fire, the firefighters have a place to get water".