The Government authorised the purchase of land in Santo António, two releases from the public domain and the transfer of twelve buildings to IHM for social housing.
The Regional Government Council approved, in plenary session on 6 August 2026, four resolutions concerning properties of the Autonomous Region of Madeira (RAM), published in the Jornal Oficial on 7 August. In practice, the Government is authorised to buy a plot of private land in Santo António, to remove from the public domain two rural properties (one in Santa Cruz and another in Santana) and to transfer free of charge to IHM - Investimentos Habitacionais da Madeira, EPERAM, twelve buildings in Calheta for the construction of 26 social housing units.
Regional Government Council Resolution No. 772/2026 authorises the acquisition of a plot of land, identified as plot No. 35, needed for the works «Infraestruturas de Acesso e Segurança nas Zonas Altas de Santo António - Troço Caminho da Barreira - Curral Velho». The overall value set is 136.00 euros, and the owners are Álvaro de Freitas Caetano and his wife, Maria Madalena Rodrigues Cró Caetano.
The resolution's summary refers to expropriation, but the operative text describes an acquisition under private law, under Article 11 of the Expropriations Code (the law governing the compulsory taking of private property for public utility). According to the document, this route was used only because the acquiring entity and the transferring party reached an agreement on the compensation amount. The Regional Secretary for Finance is mandated to sign the deed of acquisition, and the expenditure is charged to organic classification 47 9 50 02 07, under project 50153.
Release from the public domain is the act by which an asset ceases to be allocated to the public domain, that is, to collective or administrative use, and passes into the private domain of the owning entity. Only from that point can the land be sold, as the recitals of the two resolutions explain.
Resolution No. 773/2026 authorises the release of a rural property of 35 square metres, registered in the land register under article 33 of section A, in the parish and municipality of Santa Cruz, described in the Santa Cruz Land Registry under No. 4100/20050928. The area is needed for the works «Construção da Correção e Pavimentação do Troço da Estrada Regional duzentos e sete entre o Aeroporto e o Campo de Golfe do Santo da Serra». The land results from a plot of 90 square metres that the Region acquired on 19 August 2010 from Maria de Freitas Araújo das Dores, within that same project, and which was integrated into the public domain. Following cadastral process No. I202600024, the original property gave rise, among others, to the property now being released.
Resolution No. 774/2026 authorises the release of a rural property of 100 square metres, registered in the land register under article 233 of section nine, in the parish of Arco de São Jorge, municipality of Santana, described in the Santana Land Registry under No. 303/20020712. The area is linked to the works «Construção da Via Expresso Ribeira de São Jorge - Arco de São Jorge». Its origin goes back to a negotiated expropriation deed of 9 December 2013, concerning a plot of 619 square metres, and to cadastral process No. I202400004. According to the text, the property borders to the north Maria Lígia Nunes Pestana Melo Lopes, to the south Regional Road 101, to the east the heirs of Francisco Rocha Homem Júnior and to the west Imanuel Pestana Bichanga.
Resolution No. 775/2026 is the only one of the four that does not relate to infrastructure works. It authorises the permanent and free transfer to IHM - Investimentos Habitacionais da Madeira, EPERAM, of twelve properties at Sítio do Lombo das Laranjeiras, parish and municipality of Calheta, with a total area of 4,180 square metres. Eleven are rural properties, registered in the land registers under articles 12781, 12778, 12780, 12777, 12773, 12805, 22471, 22475, 22474, 22473 and 22472, and one is an urban property, registered under article 3358. All are described in the Calheta Land Registry under Nos. 4109, 4522, 4110, 5472, 5840, 4655, 5984, 6481, 6215, 5985, 6482 and 6205, respectively.
IHM is a regional public business entity (an entidade pública empresarial, identified by the acronym EPERAM) that promotes and manages housing stock. According to the document, the transfer is intended for works that will create 26 housing units (dwellings) to be allocated under social rental, that is, rent at subsidised prices to families with lower incomes. The free transfer is justified by the public interest of the housing purpose.
The resolution also sets restrictions on the transferred properties. IHM may not give them another use without the Region's authorisation, unless that use is of public interest, nor carry out inter vivos transfers or grant real security, such as mortgages, without such authorisation. The transfer received prior authorisation from the Regional Secretary for Finance, and the Secretary is mandated to sign the deed of transfer and acceptance.
The four measures are resolutions of the Regional Government Council, instruments through which the regional Executive decides matters within its competence, such as the acquisition of assets or the transfer of property. The legal instruments invoked include Regional Legislative Decree No. 7/2012/M, as amended and republished by Regional Legislative Decree No. 24/2017/M, which regulates the regional real estate assets, and Regional Legislative Decree No. 8/2025/M, whose Article 33 allows the transfer of private-domain assets to IHM for the social housing policy. All resolutions were published in the Jornal Oficial, with no execution deadlines indicated beyond the signing dates mentioned.
The Regional Government has authorised the expropriation of land plot no. 42 for €90,485.45 for the channelling works of the Ribeira da Palmeira.
Portaria n.º 619/2026 spreads the 9,050,000 euros for the first phase of the Ribeira de João Gomes rehabilitation across 2027 and 2028, with no expenditure in 2026.
The Regional Government Council authorised the expenditure for two works, awarded two others and approved the respective procedures, including the reformulation of the Santo António Interchange in Funchal and the requalification of the ER 120 in Porto Santo.