ARCHIVED - Hansa Urbana demand the right to build the controversial Novo Carthago development

The company demands 140 million euros from Cartagena Town Hall unless permission is given

It might be assumed that plans to create the “Novo Carthago” resort at the southern end of the Mar Menor, a development which was never built and of which a part has been ruled to be within a protected area, have been scrapped, but it has emerged that the property development company Hansa Urbana is adamant that the project can and will go ahead.

The odds would appear at first sight to be stacked against Novo Carthago being built: Hansa no longer owns the land on which the golf course, 6,000 homes and 2 hotels of the development were to be located, part of the land involved lies within the protected area which includes the salt marsh of Lo Poyo, and the granting of the initial licence to go ahead has been the focus of a prolonged investigation into suspected corruption on the part of the developers and regional and local government officials. But in spite of all this, Hansa are threatening to claim 140 million euros in compensation for damages from the Town Hall of Cartagena if the project is not “unblocked” immediately, an amount which is equivalent to 70 per cent of the entire municipal budget for 2018.

According to a report published in regional newspaper La Verdad, Hansa is demanding that the process of drawing up a new re-classification of the land near Lo Poyo to replace the one which erroneously allowed the granting of the initial licence, which was halted in May, be concluded “satisfactorily”, now that they have rectified an error in their plans related to irrigation farming rights in the area.

The first reaction from Mayoress Ana Belén Castejón has been to reiterate that she will not give in to what she describes as “threats and blackmail”, but the issue has already been raised by some of her political opponents in the Town Hall. The local Podemos party has called upon her to dispel the uncertainty surrounding the Novo Carthago project by declaring it null and void once and for all, putting an end to the planned re-qualification of the land, a demand which has been echoed by the MC party.

Apart from all other considerations, it should be borne in mind that the consequences for the fragile marine environment of the Mar Menor are very unlikely to be positive if Novo Carthago is eventually built. The creation of more cement, tarmac and homes so close to the shore is likely to result in an increase in the amount of water running off into the lagoon when it rains, a phenomenon which can already be observed at countless other coastal locations in the Costa Cálida, and while great efforts are being made to reduce the amount of harmful nitrates contained in the water which makes its way to the Mar Menor this would certainly not contribute to the on-going recovery.

Image: a promotional view of the development when it was first launched over a decade ago

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