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ARCHIVED - La Union Council and residents up in arms over plans to reduce Portman Bay regeneration project
The long-awaited bay renovation plans in the Murcia municipality of La Unión have been stalled since 2019
The regeneration of Portmán Bay, in the municipality of La Unión, has been riddled with setbacks since it was stalled in 2019 and recently delayed until 2024. And now plans to reduce the scale of the project have been met with "radical" opposition from the council and local residents.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition already has a first draft of the new fishing port and marina earmarked for the bay to improve its image and reactivate tourism, and the regional government approved renovation plans last November.
However, the State Attorney dragged its heels when it came to approving the contract, meaning the nine-month regeneration project remained up in the air ahead of the summer.
In recent years, modifications have been made to the original plans, drawn up four years ago, to ensure the protection of the natural environment and public health.
Between 1957 and 1987, open-cast mining operations in the bay left Portmán filled with millions of tons of sterile waste, creating a huge and toxic landfill.
However, pledges to regenerate the area and draw tourists to the natural enclave over the years have yet to be fulfilled.
And now the scheme has come under fire once again following a meeting of the project's monitoring committee on Thursday March 30, during which the Ministry confirmed it is "almost economically and environmentally unfeasible" to transport the dredged waste to the old mines in the Sierra.
Department head Teresa Ribera said the Ministry plans to "make the works viable" in order not to face "technical, economic and environmental difficulties" that caused the paralysis of the works in April 2019.
And it was revealed that the Ministry is considering, among the possible alternatives, "giving up the transfer of the dredged materials to the old mining cuts".
Waste, once extracted, would be subjected to treatment for inertisation and subsequent reuse in the bay.
Outraged, the town council and residents have publicly announced their intention to "do everything possible" to ensure that the Ministry takes up the initial "agreed" idea, "and recover at least 250 metres of coastline and build a marina and recreational port".
According to the town mayor, this would force them to increase the millions of cubic metres dredged and take them, after decontamination, to the old open-cast quarries of the Sierra Minera.
A definitive plan and date for the contract to be put out to tender remains in the air.
Image: Ayuntamiento de La Unión
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