Unfavourable environmental report paralyses Almuñécar underwater life park project

Environment

The Costa Tropical town hall has denounced the "blockage" of the Parque Azul de Vida Submarina diving area whish has already seen a 600,000-euro investment inspired by the Phoenician, Roman and Arab history of the town

MJ Arrebola

Granada

Almuñécar was going to become a world reference for diving tourism, the structures of the Parque Azul de Vida Submarina (blue park of underwater life ... were already built and the project was almost ready to be placed in the sea. However, an unfavourable report from Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition has paralysed the initiative which promised to change the tourist offer of the Costa Tropical town.

Baschi Innovation 2021, S.L. had designed 148 underwater structures inspired by the three great civilisations that have left their mark on Almuñécar over the centuries: the Phoenicians, the Romans and the Arabs. Three thousand years of history recreated in marine concrete, manufactured using 3D printing, which were to be located between 15 and 25 metres deep off El Muerto beach. The budget was around 900,000 euros, financed entirely with European funds through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.

The plan was that visitors would be able to walk along the seabed as if they were walking through a museum. Specialised guides or underwater audio systems would accompany visitors along the route. At the same time, the structures would act as artificial reefs, generating marine biodiversity, attracting fauna and favouring the recovery of the ecosystem.

Last summer, the town hall expressed its confidence that the project would be ready before the second quarter of 2026. An underwater prospection study to complete the technical planning was already under way.

Everything was moving forward and more than 600,000 euros had already been invested to make the structures. A further 240,000 euros were planned for the anchoring and installation phase, i.e. to bring the structures to the seabed and fix them in place. When everything seemed to be going well, the unfavourable report arrived.

Mayor of Almuñécar, Juan José Ruiz Joya, expressed his concern and disagreement with the unfavourable report. He argued that the town hall has complied "scrupulously" with all the technical, administrative and economic obligations required during the processing of the project, regretting that the ministerial report is based "on hypotheses, future possibilities and deeply debatable interpretative criteria".

According to the government representative, Jose Antonio Montilla, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge asked the town hall to correct certain aspects of the project presented: "Therefore, if the Ministry has finally issued an unfavourable report, we understand that the modifications made have not adequately corrected the deficiencies detected".

Outside protected areas

Even so, Ruiz Joya highlighted that the report itself expressly recognises that the area of action is outside protected areas and that the current presence of the Cymodocea nodosa seagrass meadow in the specific area planned for the installation cannot be affirmed with certainty.

"We are not talking about a political whim. We are talking about a transformative, innovative, sustainable project with enormous potential to generate employment, quality tourism and international differentiation for our town. We have done our job, we have complied with all the requirements and we have invested hundreds of thousands of euros thinking about the future of Almuñécar and La Herradura," said Ruiz Joya.

The mayor also stressed that the underwater park would have meant "a before and after" for the Costa Tropical's tourism sector, highlighting that it was a resource capable of attracting visitors all year round, generating economic activity and positioning Almuñécar and La Herradura as a leading destination in blue tourism and sustainable diving.

The town hall insists that the project did not contemplate polluting discharges or toxic materials, using concretes specifically formulated for the marine environment and following models successfully implemented in numerous international destinations linked to research and sustainable tourism.

On the other hand, the town hall considers it "an enormous contradiction" that European institutions promote strategies linked to the blue economy, sustainable tourism innovation and marine regeneration while projects of these characteristics subsequently encounter administrative barriers that put at risk investments that have already been executed.

The town hall is already working with technicians, specialists and legal advisors to study all possible alternatives to unblock an initiative that it considers strategic for the economic, tourist and environmental future of Almuñécar and La Herradura.

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