The Government rescues a project to set back the Marbella promenade that threatens homes, hotels and restaurants

The

has put on the table its intention to demolish and remodel the Marbella promenade, arguing that it is an illegal construction from the time of the corruption of Mayor

and the need to set back the sanitation pipe.

The initiative confronts, once again, a socialist government, this time that of Pedro Sanchez, with the city.

And his city council sees the proposal as a diversionary maneuver to divert attention from the demands posed by the municipality and delay the solution to the problem of the regression of the coastline.

Popular wisdom says that "there is no better defense than a good attack" and that is the strategy that the Ministry has apparently opted for when the mayor of Marbella,

, has once again demanded a solution from the Minister Teresa Ribera real for city beaches.

A solution that would go through the construction of a series of breakwaters that allow to stop the worrying recession of the coast, but whose projects -paralyzed since 2018 after the motion of censure that led Sánchez to Moncloa- do not finish seeing the light.

Faced with this request and far from offering the expected commitment, Minister Ribera responded by announcing her intention to activate the necessary procedures to recover the land in the maritime-terrestrial public domain, occupied on the Marbella coast in Gil's time, in accordance with the

approved in 1988 and, incidentally, remodeling the promenade and replacing the collector.

Although, with President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries indicated that the fact of not moving the sanitation inwards did not harm the stability of the beach.

Regardless of the terminology used, this "remodeling" supposes

the setback of part of the promenade until it is returned to the limits it had thirty years ago and the complete demolition of 1,566 meters of it, as well as some of the constructions that were place in it.

This would affect another 2,115 square meters of residential land, where there are currently private homes;

and 1,289 square meters of hotel and restaurant land in which there are tourist facilities such as the

hotel or the five-star grand luxury

and

;

and restaurants and beach bars such as

.

It also contemplates the project put forward by Ribera, actions on the 2,279 square meters of land on which the city's lighthouse is located, subject from 2020 to an administrative concession that would not end until 2055.

It does not take into account the proposal that the minister is now rescuing from the bottom of a drawer, valued at just over one million euros (€1,183,828), the added costs that an action that comes up against the interests of several Dozens of people affected such as those derived from revoking administrative concessions, in addition to the long and complex legal confrontations that may arise as a result of what some consider an "unnecessary and untimely" legalization of the promenade.

Manifestation of residents of Marbella demanding works to stop the retreat of the coast.EG

Nor does the Ministry for Ecological Transition take into account that after the time that has elapsed, the current promenade no longer has the natural characteristics of a beach, it has no ecological or environmental value and its presence does not affect the integrity of the public maritime-terrestrial domain.

Something that they staunchly defend from Marbella, where they understand that it is a consolidated and fully integrated facility in the city, so there are more reasons of public interest to legalize it than to demolish it.

In statements to EL MUNDO, Ángeles Muñoz has stressed that the fact that the legality of the Marbella promenade comes to the fore right now has nothing to do with the real benefits that this can bring -in her opinion, none-.

It is more "

" than anything else, Muñoz has assured, and with it "the Ministry tries not to talk about how important this city claims and that has outraged neighbors and businessmen", she has specified.

The stabilization of the coastline has become a "major" issue for this municipality, leader in the sun and beach segment, which today champions Spain's image at an international level as a tourist destination of excellence.

Marbella, like Estepona, Mijas, Torremolinos or the capital of Malaga itself, watch each year with concern how the storms punish the coast, the strong waves wash away the sand from its beaches and the sea wreaks havoc on the promenade, the nets sanitation, services, urban furniture.

In first-line businesses, this winter the water literally reached the kitchen and washed away porches and terraces.

In this context, the Marbella councilor complained in the Senate about the "abandonment and laziness" of which the Ministry of which Ribera is now incumbent shows off regarding a city to which it has not allocated "not a single euro" in investments or aid in recent times and whose beaches "cannot withstand one more storm".

Muñoz demanded deadlines and commitments from the central administration and held out the hand of the local government to "bring to fruition" some projects that, although the Ecological Transition considers priorities for beaches such as those of Castellón, does not contemplate them for this tourist municipality of the Sunshine Coast.

In this sense, it should be noted that the actions planned by the Ministry for Marbella observe short- and medium-term scenarios for the years 2030 and 2045, respectively.

Meanwhile, restaurants, beach bars and other businesses have complied with their commitments to the national administration and have religiously paid the corresponding cost canon - a total of 10 million euros over four years - and the city council itself has been forced to allocate separate items emergency budgetary measures worth three million euros aimed at mitigating the damage caused by recent storms.

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