Plan to complete vital beach works with sand from River Genal

About 400,000 cubic metres of sand has been secured to complete vital projects at beaches in Marbella and San Pedro Alcántara ahead of the high tourism season.

All of the permits are yet to be obtained but the Directorate General for the Coast and the Sea said the extra supply of sand would be a turning point in beautifying the sandbanks.

The 400,000 cubic-metre load of sand is a much larger amount than that provided for emergency works to fix sandbanks in the Marbella municipality.

The sand is going to be extracted from the area of the river Genal which is not protected, and has been approved by the Junta de Andalucía, according to government sources.

This was the site with the highest quality material in the area around the west coast, and would provide a solution to the constant accumulation of sand in the riverbed due to a lack of rainfall, which causes sedimentation.

The sand would be divided between two major projects on the beaches of San Pedro and the beaches of Venus-Punta del Ancón in Marbella.

In San Pedro, works at the mouth of Guadaiza-Guadalmina, which involved an investment of 7.4 million euros, will regenerate the coastline through the construction of a field of five breakwaters, between 100 and 200 metres in length.

The second project focuses on the beaches of Marbella Venus-Punta del Ancón, with an investment of 8.5 million euros. These works involve the construction of two submerged embankments of about 100 metres in length.