EU-Podem Rejects the 'Megaproject' for Beach Management in Albufereta

EU-Podem's municipal group in Alicante City Council has expressed its opposition to the 'megaproject' for managing the coastal front between the port and Albufereta, in the area known as the Ensenada, due to its 'serious environmental impact'. Alicante's council will approve an institutional declaration this Thursday to urge the Government to create a new sandy beach in Albufereta, with the possibility of constructing a coastal promenade connecting Alicante and Albufereta.

The institutional declaration calls on the Government of Spain 'to proceed with the drafting and execution' of the project 'in accordance with the recommendations of the Cedex report'. All groups, except EU-Podem, will vote against it.

EU-Podem believes that 'the buildings in the Rocafel area should never have been constructed so close to the coast'. 'Instead of addressing the consequences of that poor planning with a large-scale project, more sustainable solutions should be pursued,' it states in a communiqué.

In this vein, it emphasizes that the 'megaproject' by the Directorate General of the Coast and the Sea, of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, 'contemplates the extraction of sands in deep waters off Cullera, with a cost of 1.147 billion euros, and promotes the deposit of 12.4 million cubic meters (m3) of sand on 16 beaches or beach sections in Valencia and Alicante, from Sagunt to Pilar de la Horadada, some located 220 kilometers from the extraction point'.

Additionally, it continues, 'the extraction of 54 million m3 more is projected in other regeneration actions that are not specified'.

For all these reasons, EU-Podem considers that the environmental impact statement (EIS) of October 2013, favorable for a similar project processed in 2010, 'is expired and not valid according to environmental regulations'.

'The project would have severe and critical environmental impacts on the posidonia oceanica meadows and the fishing resources of the Valencian coast, already heavily affected,' the coalition claims. Thus, EU-Podem insists on the 'defense of the environment, sustainability, and the need to rethink coastal management without resorting to high ecological impact projects'.