Populares Xàbia calls on regional government to suspend Cala del Pope project
The group demands that the regional government suspends the contract award for filling in the iconic cove with breakwater stones.
Archive image of the Cala del Tangó or the Pope of Xàbia, when it still had the central and lateral stairs that gave access to the beach.
Monday 8th November 2021 – CARLOS LÓPEZ with Mike Smith
Despite growing local discomfort at the project, the regional government has confirmed that the project to fill in what remains of the beach in Cala del Pope, the equivalent of a “repair to the harbour wall of the Xàbia Port”, has received support from the Parque Natural del Montgó as well as an environmental impact report.
This was revealed through a response which the head of the Department of Territorial Policy and Works gave to the PP regional councillor, Elisa Díaz, who raised the issue in writing to the Corts Valencianes at the request of the Populares group in Xàbia, which has raised their own concerns over the proposed work in the iconic cove.
The regional secretary explained that reports have concluded that the project “does not have significant effects on the environment so long as it is carried out in accordance with the environmental document and the conditions that it establishes”.
Last week, the Levante-EMV newspaper revealed that the management board of the Parque Natural del Montgó had produced a report in the proposed work in 2018 which stated that the construction company should place floating barriers around the perimeter of the work area to prevent the remains of the removed materials ending up on the seabed. The document was signed by the director-curator of the natural park, Joseba Rodriquez. The newspaper also claimed that the report indicated that a “simplified environmental impact report” had been produced.
In addition, the regional government has informed the PP representative that it had commissioned a study of the “economic, competence and environmental viability of the Tangó area”, as announced in September, a study that would seem difficult to carry out if the area is filled with 4.5 ton breakwater stones.
Given this response, the PP in Xàbia have issued a statement on social media claiming that the regional secretary and the mayor are attempting to “get out of the problem without answering the questions being asked and without looking for a solution”, adding that the official response “has been to repeat the same statement they made to the press in September”.
The Populares have called on the regional government to “suspend the award [of the contract] for the project” and maintain Cala del Pope-Tangó “and all those beaches in which a regression of the coastline is taking place before they disappear due to lack of maintenance”.
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