In an interview with Lusa agency in Lisbon, where he is to participate in the ceremonies of the 50th anniversary of April 25, José Maria Neves said that "there have been no effective solutions to the resolution" of the issue of air and maritime transport.

"There is a great inefficiency that has jeopardized territorial cohesion, the competitiveness of companies and brought enormous losses to people", he pointed out.

The Angolan airline BestFly World Wide, the majority shareholder of Transportes Interilhas de Cabo Verde (TICV), announced on Tuesday that it will leave Cabo Verde and blamed the "toxic and punitive business environment", criticizing the way it was treated by the authorities.

The brand held the concession granted by the Government for inter-island flights, whose service deteriorated due to lack of planes, to the point that flights were suspended at the beginning of the month.

"I think that, in this area, partnerships have not worked. We are already in the third partnership, first with Binter, then Icelandair and BestFly. At this moment, negotiations for new partnerships must be made on more sustainable bases", he defended.

And he added: "It is necessary that decisions take into account the complexity of the situation of inter-island air and maritime transport. The Government has to prepare much more comprehensive and much more effective decisions to definitively resolve this situation".

Regarding the losses that the successive crises in inter-island transport have caused, José Maria Neves said that they are "enormous" for "companies that have their businesses heavily affected and there are also losses for families. Many people who want to travel between the islands and have difficulties in doing so, precisely because of the existing constraints".

The losses extend to the different islands and municipalities of the country: "There are a number of achievements that have not been possible or have not had the necessary impact because there is no transport".

And he gave the example of the postponement of the Cabo Verde Football Cup, whose games were postponed 'sine die' because the champion teams cannot travel through the different islands and "the great festival of the island of Fogo", on May 1.

"It is one of the great national festivals and with a very strong presence of emigration, particularly from the United States, from where hundreds of Cape Verdeans arrive, and hundreds of Cape Verdeans from other islands also arrive on the island", he noted.

There are also "companies that are complaining about the scarcity of products and hotels".

"The socioeconomic impact is very strong", he said, adding that the problems even affect national security, in addition to jeopardizing the transport of patients to islands where there are more differentiated health services.

"We have to guarantee the mobility of people, the mobility of sovereign bodies, between the different islands, there can be no constraints of this nature", he said.

And he defended the adoption of "emergency measures" by the Government to, later, find "other more durable solutions".

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