In a question to which the Lusa agency had access, the social-democratic deputy, asks the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, about “the initiatives that the Government will adopt to solve these problems”.

Cláudia André referred that the provision of Postal Distribution Services by CTT – Correios de Portugal, S.A. “Has been the subject of numerous complaints for the poor provision of this service” and added that, according to information released, “the communications regulatory authority received an average of 79 complaints per day. The lack of attempted delivery at home makes up about 19% of these complaints”.

Lack of compliance

“It is noticeable, especially in the Interior region, the lack of compliance with the delivery of correspondence, within the defined deadlines and, in many cases, not even attempted delivery. In many cases, pension vouchers, water, electricity or telephone bills for the population of this district [Castelo Branco] arrive through the hands of the postman, thus making this profession one of the most responsible in regions mostly inhabited by elderly people who are not trained to use digital media”, she maintained.

In the same document, the PSD parliamentarian also emphasizes that “companies installed in these territories complain about the lack of arrival of correspondence”, being “sometimes dramatic when they discover that important documents for the fulfilment of their obligations are on a shelf in the local CTT building”.

According to Cláudia André, despite the “serious failures of this essential service”, recognized by the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), the Government signed in February 2022 a new universal service concession contract for another seven years, without defining in advance the quality of service indicators”.

“The entire present process proves to be complex and takes a long time to resolve disagreements between the Government, ANACOM and CTT, however, because it is the populations that are truly harmed, it is important to find out what the Government has done or will do to correct these harmful situations for the populations and the economy of the region”, she stressed.

“Is the Government considering changing the inspection and control mechanisms? If so, how will the change take place?