The Consortium set up to improve the Playa de Palma yesterday presented its “101+1” recommendations as to how to go about it. The ambitious plan will take ten to 15 years to complete and will cost an estimated 100 million euros. The money will be provided by the central and regional governments, the Council of Majorca and the Palma and Llucmajor town councils.
The presentation, at a Playa de Palma Hotel, was attended by Ramon Martinez Fraile, the secretary general of tourism; Ramon Socias, the Balearic government representative; Joan Flaquer, the Balearic tourism chief; Francesc Buils of the Council of Majorca; Lluc Tomas, the Mayor of LLucmajor, and Francisca Bennasar, deputy mayor in charge of tourism. They all agreed on the importance of setting up a new consortium to develop the proposals. Martinez Fraile said “today we are celebrating a burial (of the old consortium) and a birth (of a new one).” He added that the new consortium could be up and running before the end of the year, and added that he thought all the ideas which had been presented were viable. Flaquer, for his part, said that the report and projects recommended had been reached by agreement between all parties concerned, including hoteliers, restaurateurs, traders, residents, unions and experts in various fields. “Now the most difficult part will start,” he said, referring to inter-departmental collaboration, although he promised that the Balearic government would play a decisive role in the future of the project. José Antonio Martínez, vice president of the Playa de Palma's hoteliers association, said that the consortium had taken into consideration various “critical points” such as lack of maintenance of basic amenities, failure to adapt existing resources of transport and communications, the need to modernise and the high number of obsolete hotels. Also noted were a lack of infrastructures to facilitate the creation of new tourist products, the development of few events and activities, and abandoned buildings often occupied by squatters.
The proposals include:
· A spa
· A soccer ground
A petanca (bowls) pitch
· A tram along the coastline
· A boat linking both ends of the bay
· A boulevard in Can Pastilla
· Better accesses from the motorway
· Rubbish containers put underground
· Better beach services
· More parking areas
Landscaping abandoned quarries behind the resort l A quarterly magazine in English, German and Spanish
The Playa de Palma is four kilometres long and 50 metres wide and has a European Blue Flag.
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