The decontamination of industrial lands also has no date in Santa Lucía and Los Mateos | The truth

In Santa Lucía, the most advanced procedures correspond to the site where the auxiliary buildings of the Peñarroya lead smelter were located, which now belongs to the Port Authority of Cartagena. The remediation of these soils, used until 1992 and for which the Port reserved six million euros in 2018, is pending environmental approval from the Community. The Port will then put the project out to tender.

“We are holding meetings with the Port Authority to finish polishing details of the decontamination project,” sources from the Ministry of the Environment, Universities, Research and Mar Menor told LA VERDAD. Both in the Community and in the Port they refused to give details about the results of the studies on the presence of waste and the study of decontamination alternatives. It has emerged that the analyzes rule out radioactivity problems, in a space that the Port intends to allocate to logistical uses.

Regarding the land attached to this plot, the Community is still waiting for the owner company, Inversiones Inmobiliarias Canvives, to “have not presented” the soil characterization study the documentation required by the General Directorate of the Environment. «Failure to comply with the deadline forces the Community to resolve the file and inform the company that, if it does not act, the regional Administration would have to assume subsidiary responsibility» for the aforementioned study. The regional government did not specify when the deadline expired and what the new deadline will be to clean up an area whose waste contaminates the soil, air and waters of the port.

Municipal promotion apartments

Regarding the six plots of Los Mateos that the municipal company Casco Antiguo purchased in 2023 in Villa París, in front of El Hondón, the Ministry is “pending receiving documentation from the City Council, which is carrying out an expansion of the preliminary studies to prepare a more precise decontamination project. Local government sources indicated that radiological and volatile contaminant analyzes have given negative results and that “the soil contaminant parameters are being recalculated.” The idea is to develop “a more refined decontamination project, which will be sent to the general management.” They did not indicate the costs of the plan and the works.

Casco Antiguo paid 638,000 euros for 5,466 square meters to Técnica de Inversiones Gamma SL, developer of Pozo Estrecho from the well-known Roca family. Casco Antiguo intends to build 40 social rental apartments there for young people and vulnerable groups, with financing from the Government of Spain. But it must solve the problem of contamination by heavy metals, such as mercury.

The Platform against Pollution of Cartagena yesterday made an “urgent call to citizens to join a protest rally,” this Thursday at 9:30 a.m., in front of the Town Hall, due to the delay in the decontamination of industrial lands. “This mobilization aims to express rejection of the persistent inaction of our authorities in the face of a problem that has not been resolved for twenty-four years” and that may “continue for many more.” «We cannot continue waiting, while our health is compromised day by day. It is time for our public servants to put aside waiting lists and focus on providing tangible solutions,” said the president of the group, Fulgencio Sánchez.

They announce a complaint

This group demands that the Department of the Environment authorize the Ercros project for the decontamination of Potash soils, without new demands; the sealing of the Zinsa ponds and the restoration of the soils of this landfill; and the remediation of the Peñarroya plots in Santa Lucía and the rest of the properties contaminated by heavy metals throughout the city. Likewise, the platform has announced that it is preparing to file a complaint against different officials from the City Council and the Community for their passivity.