News Archive from Andalucia & Costa del Sol
In association with
Week May 16th to May 22nd
COSTA
GEARS UP FOR SUMMER
National Police increase personnel by 140
By David Eade
TO FIGHT CRIME THIS SUMMER NATIONAL POLICE HAVE STEPPED UP THE NUMBER OF OFFICERS PATROLLING TOURIST RESORTS.
National Police have announced 140 additional officers will be drafted into the area. As in previous years, many of these will be trainee officers and their main concern will be to combat delinquency. Already in the first quarter of the year there has been a drop in petty crime. A fall of 17.18 per cent has been recorded in Málaga City and 12.8 per cent in the province.
COSTA IMPROVEMENTS
The Costa's main tourist resorts will have plenty of new attractions
to tempt visitors. In June, Benalmádena's Selwo Marina will
open its doors to the public and in July the town will inaugurate
its first outdoor amphitheatre. The Plaza Solymar is to be the site
for a new commercial centre and cinema complex, which will open
in August.
Fuengirola's new car park construction programme and the reformation
of the promenade will be another welcome addition for tourists.
The motorway access to Nerja is a great improvement for the eastern
coast as travellers will be able to reach the Nerja area in 45 minutes
from Málaga Airport, compared with the hour and a half drive
of previous summers. New commercial complexes also opened this year
in Rincón de la Victoria and Vélez-Málaga.
MORE ACCOMODATION
Almuñecar and Antequera boast new hotels while Fuengirola adds to the list the new four-star Yaramar Hotel, included in 516 new places available at the resort.
Mijas will also be able to accommodate more visitors this year; there are 400 more hotel places on offer thanks to the re-opening of the Club Costa del Sol in La Cala and the additional rooms available at the Hotel Mijas.
Marbella
has opened four new hotels in the past year.
In neighbouring Estepona a new golf complex has been built at Coto
de la Serena and the Kempinski Hotel is building a new leisure complex
to be known as Laguna Village.
BEACHES COME FIRST
The main resorts are also going to great lengths to ensure that
the beaches are in top condition. Fuengirola has contracted a waste
disposal lorry, two tractors, a cleaning machine, three motorbikes
and a catamaran to maintain the cleanliness of the beaches.
In Marbella, apart from employing two cleaning boats, there will
be 32 vehicles working on the task, 10 of which are specialist beach
cleaning machines.
Nerja has included a third bus route in its itinerary, linking main hotels with beaches.
IMPERIAL
EAGLE CHICKS TO FLY FREE
By David Eade
THE FIRST YOUNG IBERIAN IMPERIAL EAGLES THAT HAVE BEEN REINTRODUCED INTO THE NATURAL PARK OF LOS ALCORNOCALES ARE TO BE SET FREE AT THE END OF THIS MONTH.
The
exact date has not yet been set as the young birds cannot be freed
until they are able to fly. The programme is under the direction
of Miguel Ferrer of the Biological Station of the Doñana
natural park.
The young eagles were deposited in especially constructed nesting
boxes in a selected area between Tarifa and Vejer. In the same location
there were scale models of adult eagles made from biodegradable
material. This technique tries to persuade the young birds of prey
to nest and breed in the same location.
FIRST ECOLOGICAL DUAL CARRIAGEWAY
At the same press conference in Sevilla, which announced the pending release of the young eagles, regional government's minister for public works, Concepción Gutiérrez, announced the development of Europe's first ecological highway. The road in question is the A-381, which runs between Los Barrios and Jerez.
Fifty-three different alternatives have been studied to ensure the least possible hazard for the fauna of the area. In addition, special care has been taken to replant the area alongside the roadway, under bridges and viaducts.
Tunnels and bridges have been built to allow wild life to pass in safety. Large sound barriers have also been erected to lessen the noise levels in the natural park zones. Also service road access has been incorporated into the road scheme as well as special cattle tracks.
NERJA'S
CAPITAL GAINS
Direct
bus link to Madrid petitioned
By David Eade
NERJA MAY SOON HAVE A DIRECT BUS LINK WITH MADRID IF THE TOWN HALL'S PETITION TO THE BUS COMPANY PROVES SUCCESSFUL.
At present, passengers must travel to either Málaga or Almuñécar and change, but with Málaga 50 kilometres distant, and the stretch to Almuñécar poorly served by public transport, it becomes a difficult journey.
Now, Nerja's Town Hall has asked the bus company, Alsina Graells del Sur, to consider extending the Almuñécar service the extra 20 kilometres westwards. Transport delegate José Luis Pezzi said that there was considerable demand for the link, particularly at holiday times. Coincidentally, residents in Maro have asked for Nerja's municipal bus service to be extended 4 kilometres to reach the village.
NERJA
ROAD ON COURSE
The sale of land for Nerja's golf course will give the Town Hall
the means to build a new access road to the site of the future bus
station. The unused municipal market in Plaza Ermita is to be developed
as the transport centre for the town, and a new road will link it
directly to the old N-340 at the western end of the town. The project
will cost almost two million euros, of which regional government
will contribute around 660,000 euros, the balance to come from the
town's proceeds from land for the golf course.
FIFTEEN
PER CENT INCREASE FOR WIND PARKS
By David Eade
Regional government's counsellor for the environment, Fuensanta Coves, has declared that the authority wishes to see a 15 per cent increase in the generation of power from renewable energy sources by the year 2010. That is three per cent more than the target laid down by the EU and the 12 per cent signed-up to by Spain in the protocol to the Kyoto international agreement.
Currently there are 11 wind generating parks in the Andalucía region. Nine of these are in the province of Cádiz with eight being situated in Tarifa and one in Vejer. In Málaga there are currently 72 projects for the creation of wind generation parks awaiting approval. If all of these were approved they would create 2,200 megawatts of electricity, which would double the output presently approved by regional government. That authority is currently evaluating 25 projects in Málaga on environmental impact grounds and expects to give its decision by the end of the year.
The majority of the parks would be situated in the Campillos, Cañete La Real, Teba, Almargen, Antequera, Ronda and Serranía de Ronda areas. Gaucín and Casares each have two wind parks up for approval and Alhaurín el Grande and Málaga have one each. However, even if regional government did give its approval for the all 72 to proceed, the final say will rest with the local town halls who will have the power to block any wind park project.
MARBELLA
TOWN HALL OVERHAULED
Mayor
Julián Muñoz takes control of town planning issues
By David Eade
ONLY ONE WEEK AFTER TAKING OVER AS THE MAYOR OF MARBELLA, JULIÁN MUÑOZ HAS TOTALLY REVAMPED THE GOVERNMENT TEAM OF THE TOWN.
Probably his most important decision has been to take control himself of the town planning, public works and services departments. However, despite demands from the opposition, Juan Antonio Roca will continue to front the town planning department. He is currently involved in court proceedings on charges of misappropriation of public funds and is on conditional release from the court.
Mayor Muñoz has created seven new departments in his reorganisation of the Town Hall. The greatest beneficiary is believed to be Rafael González. He was out of favour during the final period of the Gil era but is a strong ally of the new Mayor. Sr Muñoz has appointed him as his first deputy and also given Sr González control of the patrimonial, town security, fire service, civil defence and traffic departments. José Luis Troyano succeeds Sr Muñoz as being the councillor responsible for the affairs of San Pedro de Alcántara.
STAGGERING TAX DEBT
Sr Muñoz's new team will not be short of problems to tackle. As revealed last week in Costa del Sol News the Town Hall owes the Spanish State tax and social security departments 108 million euros. Now Marbella's Partido Popular says the true debt comes to more than 180 million euros. Banco Crédito Local is owed 24 million, Unicaja 7.2 million, in addition there is 24 million owed in loans and 12 million to the Patronato de Recaudación.
TOWN PLAN OPEN FOR EXAMINATION
Marbella's new town planning ordinance, which was passed by the council on March 27, is now open for public examination. Political groups, ecologists and other interested parties now have one month to present any objections. Eventually the final text will be forward to regional government for approval. To date regional government has rejected all town planning ordinances submitted by the GIL administration and only recognises the 1986 Town Plan.
NERJA
HAS MORE CARS
Figures show road use on the up
By
Dave Jamieson
Residents of Nerja have long complained about the increasing numbers of road users in the town, and the consequent lack of car parking. Now it has been confirmed there are more road users in the town than ever before.
Official figures just out show that, out of the population of 17,000, there are almost 12,000 vehicles, over 7,000 of which are private cars. In the last year, the town's citizens have spent more than 500 million euros on new vehicles, raising the total by 350 in the same period.
On
average, each private car serves 1.4 people, and there is one car
for every 2.4 of them. The average driver in Nerja is relatively
young, and vehicles registered are an average of six years old.
And although residents would never believe it, the number of motorcycles
in the area has actually dropped. There were 384 fewer during the
period, a drop of 15 per cent.
TORREGUADIARO
BEACH ACCESS READY
News Staff Reporter
The contractors responsible for creating the new exit road from Torreguadiaro beach have completed the task in just two weeks. A budget of 6,000 euros was allocated to the project, which was carried out as a matter of urgency because of the approaching summer season. This is good news for the residents of the area who have long demanded better and safer access to the beach area.
The new exit will also allow a speeding up of the work to restore the Laguna of Torreguadiaro, as now vehicle access will not be impeded. Another advantage is the access via a tunnel to the port of Sotogrande from the beach. The work has also created a larger parking area in the zone above the beach.