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Date Published: 24/06/2021
ARCHIVED - Plans to create more Mar Menor ferry routes as Islas Menores sporting port goes out to tender
Plans to connect Los Urrutias, Los Alcázares, Los Nietos, Islas Menores, Mar de Cristal, La Isleta and Dos Mares by sea are underway
A new plan to create lines of transport from the south and west coasts of the Mar Menor to La Manga aim to boost tourism in half a dozen ports in the area, including Islas Menores, Los Alcázares, La Isleta and Dos Mares by making it easier to travel between the different areas by boat.
Connections between several different ports will join the existing ferry service from Santiago de la Ribera to Tomás Maestre (La Manga). However, the expiration of the concessions and licenses at these ports, along with over a year of inactivity due to Covid, means that the new trips will not start for some time.
Although there is no doubt that travel by boat is better for the environment and will greatly reduce the number of cars on the roads along with large traffic jams, which are especially common in La Manga during the summer, this is part of a larger problem which needs resolving throughout the year, namely the limited public transport options available throughout the year, certainly out of season.
Other projects to connect La Manga with the other side of the Mar Menor have been proposed in the past, such as building a walkway or an underground tunnel, but none were ever approved and have not progressed past the talking stage.
Although the plans are commendable, no mention was made about how this will be financed; the existing ferry service is subsidised and claims that the service is not financially viable without public subsidies, hence the reason for the current operator to limit services or close down altogether out of season. This does make it a very long trip around the outside of the Mar Menor by road for those heading to apartments further down the 20km long la Manga strip.
All of the ports at which new services are proposed will need adaptation in order to be able to support a ferry infrastructure. The adaptation of the docks at these ports will be included in the plan to improve the nautical infrastructures of the Mar Menor, which has a budget of around half a million euros. The first port on the list for this improvement work is Islas Menores and the plan to create the required infrastructure is included in the new contract for the Islas Menores Nautical Club which has just been put out to tender.
Regional Minister for infrastructure and development, José Ramón Díez de Revenga, who visited the sporting port of Islas Menores on Wednesday to present the new tender conditions, along with the new Mayoress of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, stressed that the contract will be awarded to the company which puts forwards the best plans to improve sustainability and make the port more open and accessible, the aim being to push harder for nautical tourism business and sporting competitions which bring tourists into the area.
The sporting port at Mar de Cristal was put out to tender on June 17. Contracts for Los Alcázares and La Isleta (La Manga) will soon follow suit.
However, the contracts for the ports in Los Urrutias and Los Nietos can’t be approved until the area has passed an environmental study and, in addition, the Dos Mares port (near Cala del Pino in La Manga) is awaiting approval by the coastal authorities, or Costas.
Images: Ayto-Cartagena.
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