COLÒNIA DE SANT JORDI
THE body of a 57-year-old fisherman was yesterday rescued from the bottom of the sea at the port in Colònia de Sant Jordi. He had been reported as missing on 28 February, the same day he celebrated his birthday. The man has been named as Andrés Díaz Bonet from Granada and he was a fisherman on the “llaüt” called Señora de los Ángeles. It was his boss who found his body a few metres away from the “llaüt”. Apparently Andrés had slept on the boat on several occasions and it has been guessed that he was attempting to sleep on the boat when something happened and he fell into the sea. There will be an autopsy today to discover the cause of death. At the scene there were many police officers on hand, including the Campos Guardia Civil, local police officers from Ses Salines and police officers from Manacor, who helped to rescue the body from the water. A doctor certified the death and a judge ordered the body to be removed. Many curious people passed by the scene, all eager to find out what was going on. The mother, daughter and several family members had to go to the port to identify the body, and for them it was a difficult ordeal and a horrible thing for them to witness.

Ahead of schedule

INCA
THE roadworks to the southern by-pass at Inca, a lane that will be 5.5km long which will lengthen the current motorway between Palma and Inca, is ahead of schedule, said a spokesperson from the Ministry of Public Works. It has been confirmed that the by-pass will be ready between August and September this year, if there are no setbacks. There is a great amount of activity in this area. The by-pass roadworks began last February and has a budget of approximately 25 million euros. The construction of the by-pass will divert between 25'000 and 30'000 vehicles, which are either going to or from Palma and Alcudia, from passing through the old part of Inca. If all goes as planned the by-pass will be built half a year before the sa Pobla motorway is ready, which is planned to be completed in the first few months of 2006. The by-pass and the sa Pobla motorway will join together at a raised roundabout that is currently being constructed at Son Fuster. This roundabout has caused many problems and debates as it is being built next to Puig de Santa Magdalena, which has been classified as a national park that has special interest (ANEI). Many people have complained that the roundabout will affect the nature of the area, which should instead be preserved. The sa Pobla motorway will be 10.7 kms long and will cost approximately 49 million euros to construct.

Face-lifts to houses

ESCORCA
THE Escorca town council wants to ensure that the façades of all houses respect the architecture of the area. As a result the Mayor of Escorca, Antonio Gómez, has put forward new plans that he wants included in the façade project, “the houses will have to be covered with stone and the walls will have to be painted in a natural stone colour and aluminium can not be used”. Furthermore, Gómez said that “although social housing has been built at Guix, here there has not been a boom in construction work, Escorca grows like it has always done in the past years”. in addition he said “this is an area with limited resources and we welcome any tourists that visit us”.

Housing aids

CALVIA
THE Mayor of Calvià, Carlos Delgado, and the deputy Mayor of housing, Rafael Garau, yesterday handed out 29 financial grants that are to be used to help buy first homes. At the same event, Delgado and Garau also handed out five financial grants to be used to restore and renovate housing and buildings in the area. The total sum of this financial aid is almost 98'000 euros and most of this sum (89'399) will be granted to people buying their first homes. The remaining sum (approximately 8'500 euros) is destined to restoration and renovation projects. The people who will benefit from this are residents between 22 and 31 years old who live in Son Ferrer and Santa Ponça.

School investments

SON SERVERA
THE Balearic Government is going to invest 4.5 million euros to reform and expand two schools in the area; Jaume Fornaris i Taltavull in Son Servera and Na Penyal in Cala Millor. It is hoped that the reforms will be completed before the 2006-7 year begins.