Spain's coastal authority prepares tender for stabilisation of Marbella beaches
The project is in line with central government's environmental impact statement, which foresees five breakwaters, beach regeneration and the construction of a pedestrian path in San Pedro Alcántara
The coastal demarcation department of the Spanish government (Costas) is working on the tender for the work to stabilise San Pedro Alcántara's beaches in Marbella. The area of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge is adapting the project it had drawn up to the contents of the environmental impact statement (EIS) of phase one of the plan to stabilise and adapt the coastline between the Guadalmina and Guadaiza rivers, which was published in the BOE Official State Bulletin on 18 October.
The declaration refers to a 3.5-kilometre stretch of coastline, which includes San Pedro, Linda Vista and Guadalmina beaches. Five breakwaters of between 90 and 260 metres are planned, after demolition of the existing small defence structures. The size of the breakwaters will be around 3.10 tonnes, with a minimum and maximum threshold between 2.50 and 3.75.
The beaches will be regenerated using 151,045 cubic metres of sand and a two-kilometre-long and three-metre-wide pedestrian path will be built with pine wood and will have a side railing "on one side or both, depending on whether the path is on the beach or elevated".
The initial investment will be increased and the works will take about nine months
According to sources from the central government's representative in Malaga, Javier Salas, the EIS has obliged Costas to revise the project, which, over time will lead to an increase in the planned investment of 7.4 million euros. The work being done by Costas will determine the exact cost of the work, which will take about nine months.
The EIS has included protection for the El Fernando shipwreck, which sank off the coast of San Pedro in October 1760 due to a storm. In order to avoid its "total or partial loss", a series of "precautionary measures" have been established, including controls, archaeological surveys and explorations, as well as an underwater intervention in the area of the wreck.
The aim of the project is to provide a solution to the existing problems on this stretch of coastline, which "are deteriorated by a notable erosive process, with insufficient sedimentary contributions and a high occupation of the maritime-terrestrial public domain and its servitude zone", as indicated in the environmental impact statement.
"This is a historic investment in Marbella and San Pedro that shows the Spanish Government's commitment to improving our coastline"
According to Salas, this is "an unprecedented historic investment" in Marbella and San Pedro which "shows the commitment of the Spanish government to improving our coastline". Salas also referred to the regeneration of Marbella's central beaches (the stretch between Venus and El Ancón), whose environmental impact statement was approved in June and which will involve an investment of 8.5 million euros.
"Pedro Sánchez's government is going to definitively carry out the improvement work on Marbella and San Pedro's beaches thanks to the commitment and momentum of these actions after the abandonment of the previous government," Salas said.
