Users will be able to launch boats back into the sea at the port of Sanitja

PalmaThe 41 moorings of the historic port of Sanitja, north of Mercadal, will be available for use again from this summer. This was announced this Thursday by the Minister of the Sea and Water Cycle, Juan Manuel Lafuente, at the end of the coordination meeting convened with Costas, the boaters, the City Council and the Consell de Menorca to find a solution.

The favorable report granted last February by the Demarcació de Costes to the request made by the association of boaters will allow that, from this summer and for four years, users can take their boats out to sea again in this enclave without having to invest in the improvement of the current dock.

According to this report, the minister pointed out, the public entity Ports de les Illes Balears will grant a temporary authorization that will allow the problem to be "unblocked". In parallel, however, the regional administration will process the concession file for 20 years initiated in 2023 in order to rectify its deficiencies and guarantee future use for boat owners.

Lafuente understands that it is "the best solution" to overcome the sanctioning file that the Demarcació de Costes had initiated and which had caused the forty users to remove their boats from the port because they could not regularize the legal situation of the five pontoons.

Beaches and rocky outcrops

The meeting, which was later opened to all town councils and representatives of the hotel employers' association, has served to assess the state of Menorca's coastline at the start of a new tourist season. In this regard, the repair of a large part of the boardwalks on the beaches affected by recent storms has been announced, with the exception of some cases, such as in Sant Tomàs (es Migjorn Gran), where action will cease due to the repeated waves that, winter after winter, damage the structures. "Doing so would be a waste of money," said the island director of the State, Clara Mayans, who announced, however, that the repair project for the entire Menorcan coast is currently out to public tender in order to begin work at the beginning of May.

The need to coordinate action between the various administrations to deal with the ever-increasing number of cliff sections that are collapsing has also been discussed, a situation that causes fatal accidents like the one in Cala Sant Esteve (es Castell) or scares due to the fall of large rocks onto inhabited houses, as in the recent case of Cala Galdana (Ferreries). In this regard, the island councilor for Local Cooperation, Simón Gornés, said that geological studies and monitoring of the endangered areas have been promoted and that the consortium for the cliffs of the port of Maó has also been reactivated to prevent further incidents.