More than a hundred neighbors, merchants, hoteliers and fishermen demonstrate against the construction and demand the regeneration of the area.
Residents, merchants, hoteliers and fishermen of Cabo de Palos yesterday clearly showed their “outright rejection” of the construction of a restaurant in front of the fish market. With shouts and banners that could be read: “Enough of brick, we want nature” and “Cabo de Palos is not for sale”, they wanted to expose their discomfort with the project of businessman Aurelio Solana Ayala, through the company Inmobiliaria Business Development SLU. They want the area, “abandoned by the City Council” to be regenerated.
«It seems to us an urban outrage and an outrage. The town does not need more restaurants, it needs many other things and, be careful, we are not against the hotel industry, ”explained the president of the Neighborhood Association, Ana Teresa Ruiz.
For the regeneration of the area, the City Council drafted a plan, which includes setting up a new town square for the use and enjoyment of residents and tourists. There would also be access to the coves for bathing and the creation of a multipurpose space where cultural, leisure, gastronomic events, markets, concerts, open-air theater and celebrations can be held, according to the initiative presented by the Consistory. The intention is to run it with a grant of 289,256 euros from the European Union. Specifically, it is a look at the Mediterranean for the promotion of sustainable tourism.
Signature collection campaign
Together with other groups, they have started a campaign to collect signatures to deliver them to the City Hall and put pressure on them. They want to put a stop to a project that for Toya Viudes, a resident of the area, is “an attack on the environment.” For another, Águeda Carreño, “they would destroy an area that many of us use in summer to bathe.” She believes that “it is not a place to set up a restaurant” and that it should be “protected as much as possible”.
For another resident, Agustín Pascual de Riquelme, the area chosen to make the hotel establishment is a “protected space, which should be preserved for the walk and enjoyment of the neighbors.” It is, precisely, a perfect area that he uses to swim in open waters, «especially when there is lift, because it is sheltered. If they make the place, this would disappear », he pointed out.
The patron saint of the Fishermen’s Association, Bartolomé Navarro, participated in the demonstration, insisting that the restaurant would be located in “an area of special protection for birds”, such as the “Marine Space of Tabarca-Cabo de Palos” and included “in a Natura 2000 Network Space”.
The general secretary of the PSOE of Cartagena, Manuel Torres, also participated. He remarked that it is an “aberration”, the project, especially, added “when there is already an initiative through the Central Government’s Tourism Sustainability Funds, to give that place a neighborhood use.”
The promoter of the restaurant, Aurelio Solana, defends that his project “does not interfere with views or negatively affect the landscape or the area.” In statements to LA VERDAD he was willing to present the project with details to the neighbors and businessmen who ask for it and even to collect their claims to include them in any way in the project.
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