FUTURE PROJECT
The works are expected to be put to tender before 2012
22.11.08 - 12:31 -
PORT. The harbour’s appearance will change dramatically. / J-LANZA
Marbella will be able to receive cruise ships in the future, medium sized ones if not the biggest. This is something which has been demanded for a long time, and an opportunity which was missed when plans to extend Puerto Banús came to nothing. Now, however, the project could come to fruition with the enlargement of La Bajadilla port, the plans for which are currently in the final administrative phase before the works can be contracted.
The inclusion of an inner harbour with the capacity to receive ships up to sixty metres in length - the size of a medium cruise liner according to sources at the Andalusian Ports Public Company (EPPA) - has become possible thanks to a modification to the project. This received definitive approval this month.
The modification to the plans should also unblock the stalemate which occurred when, after the original project was presented, the Town Hall rejected it and, with the backing of the Centre for Tourism Initiatives, proposed an alternative project which included 915 berths instead of the 508 which were initially planned.
The present project includes 650 berths which will be constructed out towards open sea. It doesn’t fulfil the local authority and business community’s desire for a harbour with one thousand berths, but it does allow for the possibility of a second phase which would increase the number of berths to that extent. However, no timetable has yet been set for an additional phase of this type.
Sources at the Town Hall say that the council approves of the new plans, especially the inclusion of berthing for cruise ships in the first phase, and because the works will be able to begin in a relatively short time. The council considers it a priority for Marbella to have a leisure port to suit its needs as soon as possible, and admits that any new modification to the project could cause delays which would not be in the town’s interests. Sources at the EPPA explain that the construction of a port involves a lengthy bureaucratic process which can take years, especially as far as the essential environmental studies are concerned.
The port company is now waiting for the final administrative process to be approved - the adscription of the waters which are affected by the project, as these will be transferred from State responsibility to that of the autonomous government of Andalucía - and then the works, which have a budget of 52 million euros, can be put to tender because the environmental report was approved last August.
Arrangement over sand
The company which is awarded the contract will be responsible for financing the project and in exchange it will be granted the concession of the port. This is similar to the way that Puerto Banús was built and run in its day.
Sources at the EPPA have assured this newspaper that the power of tourism in Marbella will ensure that companies will be interested in taking on this project in spite of the present economic crisis. This public company cannot envisage a scenario in which no construction company shows any interest in the Marbella project, although it does foresee such a situation arising in projects for ports elsewhere on the Andalusian coast which will be funded by public financing. The conditions of the concession will include a clause under which the company which is awarded the contract will agree to be responsible for maintaining the beach beside the port and for replacing the sand.
The project will be put to tender during the present legislature, and sources at the EPPA do not rule out the possibility of this taking place next year. The general director of the company, Montserrat Badía, announced at the Barcelona Boat Show recently that the ports of Benalmádena, Caleta de Vélez and Carboneras (Almería) will be put to tender in 2009.
The only reason Marbella was not included was that the project is still awaiting the final administrative approval of the adscription of the waters.
