The road along Palma’s Paseo Marítimo may lose two of its lanes - one from either side. Deputy mayor Antoni Noguera, who has as one of his responsibilities the “model of the city”, says that the reason for doing this would be to enable a widening of the Can Pere Antoni beach and the recovery of dunes and a widening also of the promenade.
The implementation of this will be subject to the future master plan for Puerto Palma and possibly redirection of traffic, but Noguera points out that the proposals are based on studies and refers also to the experience of senior officials in the urban planning department with waterfront improvement schemes.
Noguera and these officials have met with the president of the Balearic Ports Authority, Joan Gual, and addressed the need to reorganise the waterfront through the reduction of the lanes and the widening of bike lanes.
Both sides have agreed to start working on the project and to develop procedures to enable ownership of the Paseo Marítimo to pass from the authority to the town hall. It is a long administrative process, says Noguera, “but in the short to medium term we will be able to roll out projects that will help to shape the future of the waterfront”.
Another scheme involves the ceding of ownership of S’Aigo Dolça. The town hall plans to connect this neighbourhood to the sea and to provide it with a sports area. A further area of discussion was the issue of the expansion of the yacht club in El Molinar.
Both the town hall and the authority consider projects presented so far to be disproportionate. Noguera reiterated the need for there to be redevelopment which remains within the current parameters and expressed his confidence in any scheme for expansion being rejected by government.