While two courts in the Region of Murcia and the Ministry of the Environment address the situation of the landfill where the mining waste from the Jenny pool was taken, the Llano del Beal site where they were stored is still pending its final sealing and environmental restoration.
The Autonomous Community, which owns these lands after their transfer by Portmán Golf (the same company that owns the deposit), planned to put out to tender this year the contract for the drafting of the project and, later, the works contract.
But sources from the Ministry indicated that both issues will be handled by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition. The reason is that it is an action linked to the protection and recovery of the Mar Menor and, therefore, is affected by the declaration of general interest for this type of works approved in November by the Council of Ministers.
«Since the works are declared of general interest, it is the exclusive competence of the State Administration. We will send you the design of the technosol that we have designed so that you can incorporate it into your project “, they indicated. And they recalled that it is planned to pay for the works, whose estimated cost is 4 million euros, from European Next Generation funds.
Ecologists in Action and neighbors have been denouncing the state of the plot for years, located a few meters from the houses. They warn of damage to the environment and the risk to people’s health, due to the dispersion of toxic particles through the wind and rain. In addition, the Seprona has denounced before the Court of Instruction 7 of Murcia the existence of runoff of hazardous waste and its dragging to a promenade that flows into the Mar Menor.
The reports commissioned by the Ministry themselves detected in 2019 “high levels of contamination by heavy metals, mainly lead and zinc.” The plot occupies 8.75 hectares and has already undergone three seals. This, despite the fact that the Community and the Ministry spent 6.5 million in the removal of the waste, to avoid its collapse on the town.
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