ARCHIVED - No end in sight to delays in the Portmán bay regeneration project

Work cannot recommence until at least 2021 on the plans to restore at least half of the bay

When the contract to partially recover and regenerate the bay of Portmán in the municipality of Mazarrón was finally awarded in 2016 it was anticipated that the work would be completed in 2020, but after the processes by which that contract was won by a consortium formed by Ciomar and Marco were called into question progress came to an abrupt halt in April of this year.

Adding to the frustration, it has now emerged that there is no chance of a re-start getting any nearer until at least December, when the Ministry of Ecological Transition has announced that the committee overseeing the project will meet to confirm that a new works project will not be drawn up until after a national government budget for 2020 has been confirmed.

Given that this new project is a necessity in order for the works contract to be put out to tender again, this makes it impossible for work to continue in the bay until at least 2021.

When work in Portmán ground to a halt in April of this year the frustration was heightened by the fact that it was already possible to visualize how the bay will look when (or if!) it is completed. However, while on the one hand the delay has been caused by contractual uncertainties, on the other hand it has also been confirmed that technical shortcomings have come to light which will necessitate an increased budget of over 50 million euros, rather than the 32 million euros for which the first contract was awarded.

Among the improvements needed, according to the Ministry, is a clear plan to isolate and seal off the sterile substances which will be removed from the bay and transferred to the old mine shaft of San José, and measures also need to be defined to prevent contamination during the dredging process.

In addition, it is proposed the dredging should be extended to include the old fishing port and marina.

The ecological disaster of Portmán

Following years of uncontrolled dumping of steriles into the bay from the mines which finally closed down in 1991 the shoreline of Portmán now lies 550 metres from where it stood 100 years ago, with the accumulated materials dumped reaching a depth of four metres and being described as the greatest ecological crime ever committed in Spain.

The work to be undertaken consists of bringing the Mediterranean 250 metres closer to the town, thus removing just under half of the enormous landfill, and approximately 2 million cubic metres of materials will be removed and transferred to the old mine of San José in the mountains of the Sierra Minera. The “new” shore will be created using material from where the beach currently lies at the mouth of the bay, and extra sand will be brought in to improve its quality.

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