More than 300 companies from the municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão will receive financial support from the municipality of around 64,500 euros to cover the costs of energy (gas and electricity) and environment (water, sanitation and solid waste) invoices for the months of January and February 2021. This is the result of the analysis of the first application period of the Extraordinary Program of Direct Support to the Local Economy – Retomar Famalicão (“Resume Famalicão”), launched by the City Council and the Famalicão Commercial and Industrial Association, ACIF, to help individual entrepreneurs and companies based and established in the municipality that saw their activity reduced due to the pandemic.
In total, 352 applications were presented, 309 of which met the access conditions and requirements for the attribution of this support. The programme will be active until the end of 2021 and aims to grant a monthly financial contribution corresponding to 50 per cent of the monthly energy and environmental costs, if the value of the invoices submitted is lower than the corresponding value of the same month of 2019.
For the mayor, Paulo Cunha, this is a measure, above all, directed "to micro and small companies of the county that have difficulties in accessing other support that have proven to be very bureaucratic and distant". "These are easily accessible supports that we want to reach everyone who needs it and not just those who are better prepared to get there”, stressed the mayor.
Meanwhile, in the last meeting of the municipal executive a proposal was approved to change the regulation of the Famalicão Resume programme, which foresees the enlargement of the access to the programme to a set of economic activities that initially were not covered by this benefit. This is the case of real estate promotion, commerce of motor vehicles, films and videos projection, among others.
It should be remembered that initially the measure covered a universe of nearly 1000 companies in the area of non-food retail commerce, pastry shops, bars and cafés, tour operators, gyms, hairdressers, among others. With this change, the universe of companies covered will almost double.
Famalicenses entrepreneurs may apply to the Extraordinary Program of Direct Support to the Local Economy - Resume Famalicão, by filling in the application form available at the Famalicão Made In website, at https://www.famalicaomadein.pt/, and at the Famalicão Municipality website, at https://www.famalicao.pt/. The entire process is digital, with the filling of forms, sending of documents and online submission, thus avoiding visits to the municipality.
This is one of the several supports that make up "Retomar Famalicão", the extraordinary program of direct support to the local economy launched by the Famalicão City Council in partnership with ACIF - Associação Comercial e Industrial de Famalicão and that gathers a set of measures to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in the activity of the economic operators of the municipality.