City council advised to take its time over sea front plan

Amidst fears that Palma city council's plans to rebuild and renovate part of the capital's sea front will add to the city's traffic chaos and bring the Paseo Maritimo to a standstill during construction, there were calls yesterday for more time to study the project. Palma's PSM, Majorcan Socialist Party, councillors yesterday expressed concerns over the “urgent” need for a project so large and important to be approved by the planning department. The nationalists fully support the council's intention to revitalise the residential estates along the main road which runs in to Palma from Arenal and the airport, while improving the physical appearance of the gateway to the capital. “Until now the areas around the Llevant industrial estate, La Soledad and Foners have been ignored and abandoned by the city council,” the PSM said. But opposition councillors believe that more time is needed to study the project and its full implications. The city council has already come under fire this summer from having launched a whole series of building projects at the same time. The area around the Plaza d'España has been thrown in to traffic chaos while the underground car park is built and opposition councillors are concerned that unless the council postpones the sea front project until city centre developments have been completed, trying to move about the capital by car will become an even worse nightmare than it is now. A question mark also hangs over where companies like GESA will relocate their head offices. The GESA building lies in the path of the sea front renovation project and a number of private companies will have to relocate, which is also going to take time.