The National Monitoring Commission (CNA) of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) found 21 investments in need of monitoring, 13 in a worrying state and two in critical condition, according to the 2022 annual balance sheet that is being presented in Lisbon.
After evaluating 69 investments (there was “clearly no time” to reach 83 on the ground, justified the president of the CNA), it was noticed that the most difficult situations are in the area of support for companies and housing. Among those assessed, 33 investments are “aligned with planning” and 21 need monitoring.
The forest sector is also of some concern, said Pedro Dominguinhos, during the presentation, which takes place at Culturgest. O hub blue, which presupposes the construction of infrastructure for the blue economy network (linked to the sea), is also classified as worrying.
Summarizing the causes of these 15 investments in the worst situation, the president of that independent body said:
- delays in assessing applications, which is “particularly sensitive in the business support component”, such as the decarbonization of the industry, which is behind schedule, and the energy efficiency services;
- delays in launching tenders or lack of demand;
- there are still situations considered worrying because the targets are “particularly ambitious” and extremely difficult to achieve in the current calendar, such as training 800,000 people in digital (equivalent to 17% of the active population) or vouchers for opening incubators;
Among the investments in a critical state, the same person in charge pointed out the Odivelas-Loures surface light rail. The other relates to the capitalization programs for companies via Banco Português de Fomento.
In the end, the CNA presents 13 recommendations.
- Accelerate the evaluation of applications, because “there are a significant number of deadlines beyond what is desirable”;
- streamline administrative and legislative authorizations and promote greater cooperation between public entities;
- introduction of public consultation mechanisms in the preparation of notices;
- increase the percentage of reimbursement and advances, as will already happen in the Mobilizing Agendas programme, with an increase from 13% to 23%;
- reinforce and improve communication;
- improve response times and reinforce platform interoperability;
- reinforce territorial information on investments and harmonize reporting concepts;
- define a model for monitoring agendas;
- improve portal more transparency, with indicators and dashboard;
- rescheduling of investments, financial reinforcement, as well as some targets;
- definition of the program and reinforcement of activities aimed at attracting human resources;
- PRR evaluation agenda focusing on results and impacts;
- creation of a CNA website