The Municipality of Baião was honoured with the Portugal Smart Cities Award – António Almeida Henriques, awarded by the AIP Foundation, in the “Urban Space” category, for the project “Valorisation and Rehabilitation of the River Ovil”.
The award ceremony took place on 3 June, as part of the Portugal Smart Cities Summit, held at FIL – Lisbon International Fair.
This winning project aims to rehabilitate the banks of the Ovil River using natural engineering techniques and to strengthen the connection between the community and the river by promoting environmental education, raising public awareness and enhancing water resources. To this end, ecological corridors are being created to allow people to enjoy the riverbanks, contemplate the landscape and come into contact with the diversity of native fauna and flora species.
BALANCED AND INTELLIGENT TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT
To date, the Municipality of Baião has completed work on two sections of the river, covering approximately 4.5 kilometres. The ultimate goal is to extend these actions to the entire course of the River Ovil.
This distinction represents recognition of the Municipality of Baião’s efforts to promote environmental sustainability and enhance natural resources, reaffirming its commitment to balanced and smart territorial development.
The António Almeida Henriques Award, created in honour of the former mayor of Viseu, aims to recognise and value projects that actively contribute to the construction of smarter, more sustainable, inclusive and connected cities.
This year, the categories in the competition were Carbon Neutrality; Mobility; Public Space; Social Inclusion; Digital Transformation; and Sustainable
