The collective ‘Marbella for its beaches’ -which brings together business associations and neighborhood federations-, called on the central government this Thursday to undertake the coastal regeneration projects of the municipal term with the construction of jetties, as well as they have requested contributions of sand to alleviate the damage of the last storm to have the beaches in an optimal state for Easter.
Michel Mitrotti, member of the executive committee of the Association of Hotel Businessmen of the Costa del Sol (Aehcos), has been in charge of starting the press conference held at Casino Marbella, where he has criticized the “sorry state of the beaches” after suffering the last storm surge, which are “totally bare” and “there are only stones and no sand”. To this he has added “the damage suffered by the adjacent hotel establishments”, both in the “furniture” and in its “facilities”.
Thus, he recalled that in 2019 the Government of the Nation tendered two projects for the “regeneration” of the beaches of the municipality with actions planned in San Pedro Alcántara and Marbella. In the first case, it has stressed that the initiative contemplates the intervention “between the mouth of the Guadalmina and Guadaiza rivers” with “up to five T-shaped groynes”, which has ensured that “is paralyzed.”
Regarding the Marbella project, he has indicated that he understands performances “from La Venus beach to Punta del Ancónwhere they were projected 3 free dikes parallel to the coast and a series of contributions of sand that would make the beaches recover” and that “it is paralyzed”. At this point, he has criticized that “the third dam has been excluded” in the beaches of the center of the city such as those of La Bajadilla, La Venus and San Ramón.
“We urgently need priority on the part of the Government to carry out this project of beach regeneration, it is necessary and urgent to carry out the project, finish it and also provide sand” if it “has to pass environmental clearances because we need the beaches that Marbella deserves”.
The president of the Association of Emerged Breakwaters for Marbella, José Miguel Lima, lamented that the storm “has taken all the beaches of Marbella, and even the promenade we are about to lose.” Therefore, he has requested “accelerate the two projects as soon as possible” of San Pedro and El Ancón, including the downtown beaches, explaining that these have been left out due to the existence of a limpet called Patela ferruginea, which is a “protected” species, but has assured that a study indicates that it is not such, but “common”, although it has not determined who has done it.
It has also requested “super urgency very powerful sand suppliess for us to be able to move it and cover the beaches that have been stripped of flesh” in order to have the coast prepared “for the summer season and Easter and protect the promenade before we lose it”.
The president of the Center for Tourist Initiatives (CIT) Marbella, Juan José González, has stressed that “Marbella is an international tourist destination and a very powerful brand that gives a lot of prestige to a country that intends to continue in the elite of world tourism”. Thus, he has requested that “the projects started are accelerated or resumed if they are stopped”, as well as that “the one of the beaches of the center be taken into consideration”.
The president of Aehcos, José Luque, has celebrated the union of both civil society and the productive fabric of the city to defend the beaches of the municipal area, at the same time that he has defended the defense of the coastline not only for the enjoyment of tourists, but for residents lack of “quality urban beaches”. “Hoteliers look with healthy envy how these problems are solved in other competing destinations”, he has valued, for which he has asked the Government “greater sensitivity and speed and give the importance of the beaches of Marbella”, pointing to the “co-responsibility” in the investment.
The representative of the Association of Hoteliers of Malaga (MAHOS) on the Costa del Sol, Luis Quiroga, has pointed out that “Marbella and the beaches go hand in hand”, lamenting that with the current situation “many hoteliers are beginning to have problems”, mainly beach businessmen, as well as assessing the impact in the economy ofthe news about the poor condition of the beaches of Marbellawhich begin to transcend outside”.
The request has been supported by the Association of Emerged Breakwaters for Marbella, the Association of Hospitality Entrepreneurs of the Costa del Sol (AEHCOS)), the Center for Tourism Initiatives (CIT) Marbella, the Marbella Fishermen’s Association, the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Marbella and San Pedro de Alcántara or the Federation of Neighborhood Neighborhood Associations of Marbella.
Likewise, it is supported by the neighborhood associations of La Patera, El Barrio, Plaza de Toros, Trapiche Alto and Las Albarizas, the Playa-Costa del Sol Entrepreneurs Association, the Business Association of Travel Agencies of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia (AEDAV)the Association of Merchants and Professionals of the Old Town of Marbella, the Association of Hoteliers of Malaga (MAHOS), the Rotary Club of Marbella, the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises San Pedro Alcántara (APYMESPA) and the Network of Entrepreneurs of Marbella.