Spain: Officials Meet in Palma to Analyse Dredging Project

The Chairman of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB), Alberto Pons, met the Mayor of Mahon, Águeda Reynés, in Palma yesterday,to discuss the latest developments affecting the Port of Mahon and study the actions to be taken over the port’s dredging project, after the Environmental Public Prosecutor’s Office last week filed the complaint made by the GOB Ecology group which had alleged that the project was a criminal offence.

Pons informed Reynés that the APB has already contacted the Spanish Oceanography Institute (IEO) about studying the potential impact on the ecosystem of the discharge of mud from the port, as the Environmental Public Prosecutor’s Office suggested in its report.

In parallel, the APB is restarting the dredging procedures with a new campaign to collect samples and update permits, after the six-month temporary suspension ordered by the Prosecutor’s Office as a result of the GOB’s formal complaint.

Both the APB and the Mahon City Council are highly sensitised to the issues surrounding the dredging project, including the heritage aspect. Along these lines, the meeting participants agreed to pay special attention to the archaeological study and the procedure to be followed should any site of interest be found at the bottom of the Mahon waters. Both institutions committed to following any recommendations made by the Minorcan Island Council, which is responsible for heritage.

The meeting was also attended by the recently appointed APB Director, Juan Carlos Plaza; the Mahon Council’s Deputy Mayor of Institutional Relations, Simón Gornés, and the Deputy Mayor of General Services and the Port, Salvador Botella. During this first meeting after the appointment of Alberto Pons as the APB Chairman other port issues were briefly dealt with and the commitment to discuss them in greater depth on another occasion was made.

[mappress]

Press Release, October 17, 2013