Más calls for the annulment of Rafal Rubí's project, just days before construction is set to begin.
It requests a legal report from the Consell de Menorca after detecting "regulatory breaches" that would cause the entire procedure to be reviewed or reversed.
Más por Menorca made its final attempt this Thursday to legally halt construction of the half-built viaduct in front of the Rafal Rubí archaeological site. The Popular Party government on the Island Council insists on pushing the project through despite warnings from UNESCO. Councilors Noemí García and Esteve Barceló from Más por Menorca have submitted a request for a legal report on the legality of the two-level roundabout project that threatens the prehistoric navetas (pyramids) of Rafal Rubí. The request is justified by the detection of "regulatory non-compliance" regarding the heritage and landscape impact assessment, which also fails to meet the commitments stemming from the declaration of Talayotic Menorca as a World Heritage Site. The construction company has already signed the contract
The initiative by Més per Menorca comes just as the winning consortium, formed by Copcisa, Juan Mora, and M. Polo, is about to begin construction between kilometer markers 5.7 and 7.7 of the main road between Alaior and Maó. In fact, the contract, formalized on January 23, commits them to carry out the project over eleven months with a budget of €6,576,525.64. However, Más doubts that the heritage impact assessment included in the file meets the standards required by regulations and the technical criteria established by UNESCO and ICOMOS for properties declared World Heritage Sites. He also notes the absence of the mandatory and binding report on landscape impact and integration, which would violate the provisions of the Menorca Island Territorial Plan (PTI).
These arguments, the Menorcan political group believes, could constitute grounds for the absolute nullity of the administrative procedure initiated by the Island Council, as they "affect essential procedures designed to protect specially valued heritage and landscape values." In this regard, they also request that the legal report assess the resulting legal consequences and whether it is possible to reverse the process or review it ex officio.
The director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre already warned in October, in his letter to the Ministry of Culture, that the heritage impact assessment of the main road renovation project around Rafal Rubí "does not meet the standards required to adequately assess the impact on a site inscribed on the World Heritage List and does not analyze the Outstanding Value of the property." He also asked the Island Council to analyze alternative routes and solutions, but the proposals from entities, technicians, and political groups, all of them above ground, have been ignored by the PP government.
Lack of reports and incomplete evaluation
Therefore, there is further doubt that "the heritage impact assessment included in the file meets the requirements of technical sufficiency, scientific rigor, and regulatory compliance, both in accordance with domestic heritage legislation and with the international commitments assumed by the Spanish state." Furthermore, both councilors remind us that the principle of prevention and environmental precaution must prevail, which requires that, "in the face of reasonable doubts about the extent of the impact on specially protected values, the necessary measures be adopted to avoid irreversible damage, including the possible review or expansion of the impact studies." In December, more than one hundred experts in archaeology and landscape from across Spain issued a statement warning the Island Council of the "serious error" of wanting to complete the Rafal Rubí double-level roundabout and thus defying UNESCO criteria. The opposition has not yet had its final say either.
