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Improvement works

LLUCMAJOR
THE Ministry for the Environment, Jaume Font, and the Mayor of Llucmajor, Lluc Tomás, yesterday visited the improvement works that are being carried out at the torrents in Son Vei, Na Clot and dels Jueus. These work are important to the Balearic Government as they have invested around 270'000 euros in the projects so far. During this visit Font said that the Government has invested around 30 million euros in torrent projects around the islands, which is much higher than what was spent during the last legislation period, 5 million euros.

Folk festival remembers

FELANITX
THE Spring Folk Festival held in Felanitx will pay homage to the local poet Miquel Bauzá on Saturday 23 April. The writer, Miquel Bauzá was born in Felanitx and died at the beginning of this year. He is remembered as one of the most orginal and radical Catalan writers and he received many awards through the years, such as the Vicent Andrés Estellés Award, the Barcelona City Award and the Cavall Verd Award from the Council of Majorca. This Saturday's homage is titled “20 readers and music performing works by Miquel Bauzᔠhas been organised by the Cultural Artifex and has sponsorship from the Felanitx town council, the Sa Nostra Foundation and the Department of Culture in the Council of Majorca. The event will start at 9pm at the Felanitx town hall and around 20 people from all different cultural sectors will be performing, for example, the singer Miquel Lladó, the actor Joan Gomila and the writer Guillem Frotera. All these performers will be reciting some of Bauzá*s selected works. The director of the event, Joan Manresa, said that the recital will be like a concert of poems, “with the aim to not be a sad affair, but to be a way of introducing Miquel Bauzá*s work”. In addition, there is another event which has been organised by the Council of Majorca on the works of Bauzá. This time the event will be in the form of a conference on 13 May in the Culture Hall in Felanitx. The conference will be centred on discussing the Majorcan influence in the poet's works.

Foreign numbers

ALCUDIA
THERE are more Colombians living in Alcudia than any other foreigners, even more than Germans and English, according to statistics unveiled by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The number of residents in this area who were born in Colombia is more than five hundred. In the past decade more and more people born in Colombia moved to Alcudia. Take for example, the Luz Adriana García family, who were one of the first Colombia families to set up house in the North of Majorca during the 80*s. Nowadays their family has grown sizeably, as many of their nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters have made the same decision to move to Majorca. Currently this family has 50 family members living in Alcudia, and this situation is rather common amongst the Colombia residents. The main and overwhelming reason for their move to the island is the ease of finding employment, which compared to their homeland where jobs are scarce and underpaid, is a blessing. At present there is no such Colombia Residents Association in Alcudia, however they do try and get together to celebrate the main Colombian celebrations, such as Mother's Day and Christmas. “The Colombians do not cause any problems of any nature, on the whole they are quite well integrated into the life in Alcudia. There are even many Colombian women who volunteer to help out in Woman's workshops”, said the councillor for Social Services, Mercedes Buendía.

Channel operation

MARRATXI
THE Ministry for the Environment and the Marratxi town council will be working together to improve the water channels at the Coa Negra “torrent”, which passes through the industrial estate. The aim of this work is to ensure that flooding does not take place in this area. The cost of this work will reach approximately 730'000 euros, which will mostly be paid for by the Balearic Water Institute. The remaining funds will be paid for by the local Co-operation group, said a spokesperson from the Ministry for the Environment. This particular “torrent” floods regularly, especially at the industrial estate, which is about 3kms away from the source of the Gros “torrent”. The Marratxi town council has carried out a report on the most prone flooding areas of the torrent, in order to avoid future floods.

Wind park problems

ARTA
THE Environmental Group, GOB, wants the wind park that is planned for Arta to change locations. The Group has said that the wind park is planned to be installed near to the Betlem Hermitage, which is “one of the most protected areas” of the island, and a year ago was even classified as a natural park. This wind park is to be installed by the power company Gesa Endesa.