The President of the Government visits the works to reinforce the dyke of the port of Cala Rajada, the most important action in recent years to improve the safety and operability of these facilities.
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Investments in ports under the jurisdiction of the Balearic Islands
The reforms will continue with the complete refurbishment of the building that houses the fishermen’s market and the new construction of a multi-purpose facility.
The President of the Government, Francina Armengol, and the Councillor for Mobility and Housing, Josep Marí, today visited the port facilities of Cala Rajada, where the works to reinforce the breakwater and reorganise uses, promoted by Ports IB, with an investment of 4.5 million euros, have just been completed. Also in attendance were the mayor of Capdepera, Rafel Fernández; the director general of Maritime and Air Transport, Xavier Ramis, and the managing director of Ports IB, Juan Vicente Rosselló, among other authorities.
The tour along the breakwater allowed the attendees to see the work carried out over the last year to give greater structural stability to the dock and improve the port’s operability by reducing the impact of strong waves in stormy weather. Work has also been carried out on the reorganisation of uses so that the different activities in the port can be developed with minimum interference between them.
The President of the Government celebrated the completion of these works, “which are a long-standing demand and which guarantee the safety and the economy of this area”. Francina Armengol also affirmed that “the ports are basic infrastructures of the Islands and, for this reason, Ports IB is a strategic public company. When we began to govern it wanted to be privatised and it had a complex debt situation; in the last eight years we have managed to have a more solid company than ever and we have not only resolved the debt, we have also been able to invest 213 million euros in the port infrastructures of the Balearic Islands”.
“This is undoubtedly the most important work we have carried out in recent years in the port of Cala Rajada. An essential work, demanded and worked on for some time to provide greater security to the port, guaranteeing the solidity of the breakwater”, said the councillor Josep Marí, who stressed that the investments made in the port of Cala Rajada are a clear demonstration of the Government’s commitment to invest in improving the port infrastructures of this community: “we are making progress in security and in the quality of the facilities and services offered by our ports so that they continue to be a reference point in the Mediterranean”.
More safety and better operability
The project, now completed, has worked on the structural improvement of the breakwater to reinforce its stability and resistance to wave action. The aim was to improve the operational performance of the breakwater by improving the shelter of the port and reducing the levels of internal agitation. The breakwater has been reinforced with a blanket of 14-tonne concrete hexapods containing an additive that facilitates and accelerates the growth of marine life and a hammerhead has been built, as well as adapting the existing seawall.
The project has also involved a reorganisation of port uses and a series of urban development works – the burying of installations, the removal of pavements and the preparation of new paving – as well as the reconstruction of buildings attached to the breakwater.
Investments in the ports of the Balearic Islands
This is the most important investment project promoted by Ports IB in the port of Cala Rajada in recent years, but not the only one. Last August saw the completion of the works to stabilise the rocky seaward side of Cala Rajada in the port area, with an investment of 547,674 euros. In recent years, the harbour promenade railing has also been renovated to adapt it to safety regulations, and the effects of different storms have been dealt with by repairing the port’s skylight pier and the emergency work to rebuild the area of the breakwater that collapsed during the storm of January 2017.
These investments, already executed, total 7.2 million euros. Two more projects will be added soon: the complete refurbishment of the building that houses the fishermen’s market and the port offices, as well as the demolition and new construction of a multi-purpose building that will house the ticket sales points for the golondrinas, toilets and a restaurant. The estimated budget is 1.9 million euros. All in all, the investment projects planned by Ports IB in the port of Cala Rajada exceed 9 million euros.
This is one of the 14 ports directly managed by Ports IB in the Balearic Islands, in which, since 2015, more than 78 million euros have been invested in improvement and maintenance works (78,118,492 €).
In addition to these ports, there are twenty-nine port facilities under indirect management, through concessions to yacht clubs and marinas, which have also made a significant investment effort in recent years to introduce environmental, safety and quality improvements in services, investments that in the case of yacht clubs total 61.9 million euros and 73.4 million euros in the case of marinas.
These figures bring the total investments in ports under the jurisdiction of the Balearic Islands to more than 213 million euros (213,471,091 €) since 2015.