ARCHIVED - More lifeguards on the beaches of La Azohía and Isla Plana this summer

The new lifeguard services contract at Cartagena beaches is being put out to tender

It may be only mid-February but already the Town Halls in coastal municipalities of the Region of Murcia are beginning to plan for the beach tourism season, which usually starts at Easter before hitting its peak in July and August, and in Cartagena the procedures for contracting lifeguard services on the shores of the Mediterranean and the Mar Menor have already been initiated.

Among the novelties in the tender process for supplying lifeguards in Cartagena during the summers of 2020 and 2021 is that the service is to be amplified in the villages of Isla Plana and La Azohía, in the far south-west of the municipality. In recent years it has been noted that far more people are visiting the beaches in this part of Cartagena, and as a result it is planned that there will now be five lifeguard posts rather than three, with new locations at the Playa de la Chapineta in La Azohía (as well as at the beaches of San Ginés and El Cuartel) and at the Playa del Corral in Isla Plana (adding to the lookout point at the main beach at the eastern end of the village).

The overall lifeguard services contract being put out to tender in Cartagena will last from 1st June this year to 31^st May 2022, and specifies that 64 professional staff must be stationed at 26 lookout points. The budgeted cost of this service for the next two years is 3.5 million euros.

The other Mediterranean beaches included in the contract are those of Monte Blanco (Calnegre), Barco Perdido (Entremares and Sirenas) and Galúa, all on the western shore of La Manga, Cala Reona, Calblaque, Cala Cortina and El Portús.

In the Mar Menor, meanwhile, the list includes those in Punta Brava, Los Urrutias, Los Nietos, Islas Menores (Levante), Mar de Cristal, Lomas del Castillico (Villas Caravaning), Playa Honda and Playa Paraíso on the inland shore of the lagoon, and Puerto Bello, La Gola, Cavanna and Cala del Pino in La Manga.

Not all of these lifeguard posts will be allotted the same level of staffing, of course, with the busiest being those of Galúa and Barco Perdido in La Manga and San Ginés in La Azohía. The earliest to open will be those of Galúa and San Ginés on 1st June. However, there will be services this Easter under the existing contract, which still has three months to run.

Another innovation in the new contract is that all land-based vehicles ascribed to the lifeguard services will be based at one fixed lookout point, rather than constantly moving from one to another, and a central coordinator will be in charge of directing the movements of each one.

For more local news, events and other information go to the Cartagena section of Murcia Today.

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