Dumping of building waste at Montport.

Dumping of building waste at Montport. | Michel's

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterAndratx18/03/2020 04:01
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Work on the Montport development of 68 luxury apartments in Puerto Andratx was stopped in 2007. A licence for the work had been granted by Andratx town hall in 2004, thirteen years after the land had been classified as protected. In 2006, the mayor of Andratx, Eugenio Hidalgo, was arrested. What was to emerge was a story of corruption and also of the flouting of regulations governing developments.

The Balearic High Court finally ruled that the apartments must be demolished and that the town hall must pay fourteen million euros compensation to the thirteen people who had bought apartments and to the developer Prosmi, which had proceeded with the work unaware that the land was protected.

The town hall has recently put forward a proposal that rather than demolish the apartments, they are used for social housing purposes. But regardless of what now happens to the site, over the years it has been subject to neglect and to vandalism. There is graffiti, doors are broken; theft is valued at some half a million euros.

The lack of control is such that the development now poses something of a safety risk. People can access the site without much difficulty; there is just a barrier without a chain. As well as the vandalism, Montport has become a tip, mainly for building rubble. Residents in the area say that this waste is being deposited on a daily basis.