Coimbra Skatepark is poorly built – Incompetence or something else?
Exclusive of Site Nacional de Skate
The Coimbra Skatepark was opened on May 9, 2022, and it took just over 2 weeks for its poor construction to become visible.
At any time, anomalies can jeopardize the safety and physical integrity of practitioners as they are deteriorating day by day.
But who then will be truly responsible for this situation?
Let us remember that this Skatepark had a global public investment of €452,137.21 by the Coimbra City Council, and is located on the right bank of the Mondego river, under the Queen Santa Isabel bridge viaduct (Coimbra), with a total area of around 1500 m2.
Construction began in July 2021, with the work being carried out by the company Civibérica Obras Civis, S.A. (specialized in road construction) and which the CM of Coimbra cites as being the winner of the public tender that had been launched in January of the same year.
However, the company that appears on the information boards is Skate House.
But “who” is this Skate House? According to public information available in https://www.racius.com/skate-house-gestao-de-parques-desportivos-lda/ (in Portuguese) It is a private company with NIF: 508502381 and whose registered activity is “Creation and management of sports parks, construction of sports parks and gardens, creation and management of events, import and export of sports furniture, import and export of sports equipment, purchase and sale of properties.”
The company is owned by partners Paulo Jorge Garcia Ribeiro, and Rui Filipe Nascimento e Sousa.
Paulo Ribeiro is the CEO\President of the Pro Skate League, and National Coordinator of the Skate Technical Committee of the Portuguese Skating Federation).
Rui Filipe Nascimento e Sousa is a member of the Skateboarding Committee of the Portuguese Skating Federation.
What do people do who have positions in the Federation at the same time as they are partners in a private company, involved in business with Municipal Chambers financed with taxpayers’ money?
But despite the Skate House logo being on the scoreboards, as incredible as it may seem (or perhaps not) this was not the company that built the skatepark!
But after all, who built the skatepark???
It was confirmed through the almost daily videos published by the Brazilian company, Green Ramps, that it was this company that built the skatepark, purposely coming from Brazil at the invitation of Mr. Paulo Ribeiro from Skate House, in the words of Brazilian Civil Engineer Eduardo Fernandes.
We did not find any previous history of construction of this company in Portugal, so we are led to believe that it could only have been someone who argued that the professionalism and competence of this company would be absolutely extraordinary, and this would justify the detriment of the various construction companies in Portugal certified at European and World level (and some of them already have several skateparks built in Portugal and abroad).
These images sent by skaters from Coimbra prove the “professionalism” and “competence” of the work carried out by this company, which purposely flew from Brazil to come here and do this… but what everyone should question is whether it’s the fault of those who built it, or whoever called them to build it?
And now who pays for the plane trip from Brazil to Portugal for them to fix it? Is it the taxpayers again?
