Speaking to Lusa, Mayor Miguel Alves said that this is a private investment that embodies "an industrial revolution in the district”. The park will be located at the confluence of the parishes of Argela and Vilar de Mouros, next to the access to Highway 28 (A28), in an area dedicated to businesses with more than eight hectares.

"The Preliminary Information Request has already been submitted to Caminha Town Hall and is being processed," said the local authority, adding that in the coming weeks the Town Hall expects to sell the land it owns in that area in favour of the promoters.

According to the description and justification of the allotment proposal received by the municipal services, the automotive industry technology centre will be equipped with space for the business with shared support services as well as a restaurant and cafeteria facilities.

Cross-border centre

The cross-border exhibition centre will be a multi-purpose pavilion that will host conferences, national and international fairs, sports competitions and live shows.

Using remote-controlled retractable stands, it will have capacity for 7,500 visitors at the same time, for 4,000 seated spectators for shows and for 2,500 seated spectators for official sports competitions in handball, basketball, football, roller hockey, volleyball amongst others.

The municipality noted that the pavilion "will meet the necessary conditions to be recognised with the official certifications that allow it to host international clubs or national team competitions”.

The promoters plan to create lots for the industry in an overall occupation of 36,000 square metres, as well as space dedicated for commerce and services, sports and cafeteria equipment, and leisure and recreational spaces.

For Miguel Alves, the investment will provide "modernity and sustainability to an area that will boost the creation of hundreds of new qualified jobs in sectors of high technological intensity, such as the automotive and aerospace industries”. "It is intended that added value activities, such as product design, are exported from Caminha to the world," he adds.

According to Miguel Alves, "this project marks a turning point in the development of the municipality of Caminha"."We have been working on this enterprise for a long time and now, with almost all the land acquired by the promoter and with the Previous Information Request being evaluated by the technicians, we feel we have the conditions to announce to Caminha and the whole territory that we have started the industrial revolution that the municipality has needed for many years", he says.