Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) has launched a tender to dismantle structures and carry out work at the Puerto Mayor site in La Manga del Mar Menor. The contract, valued at €25.77 million (over $29 million USD), is expected to take 18 months. Bidders must submit proposals to the Directorate-General for the Coast and the Sea by 16 December, as reported by Europa Press.
The project addresses a dispute dating back nearly 50 years. In 1975, the Council of Ministers authorised Puertomayor S.A. to build a marina on La Manga’s Mediterranean coast. The unfinished project later became “a territory gravely pressured by urban development.” After years of legal disputes, the land was returned to the public maritime-terrestrial domain in April 2021.
The tender forms part of a broader initiative with a total budget of €675.05 million (more than $782 million) aimed at restoring the Mar Menor ecosystem. Miteco’s project focuses on rehabilitating 97.72 hectares of coastline at the Puerto Mayor site.
The project involves dismantling more than 2,500 metres of sheet piling on land and in the water. Workers will also remove fencing, advertising structures, rubble and leftover gravel, boulders and sand from earlier construction. Three areas of soil contaminated with heavy metals will be excavated and managed by authorised waste handlers.
Sand will be redistributed to reshape the shoreline, while over 35,000 cubic metres of material will be removed from inside the eastern breakwater. Abandoned boats in the marina enclosure will be cleared. The final 200 metres of the southern breakwater will be demolished and the remaining section reinforced with new armourstone and selected stone from the site.
Caleta del Estacio’s dune system will be rebuilt according to Miteco’s dune restoration manual. Invasive plants will be cleared, dunes reshaped, wicker sand collectors installed and native vegetation planted with approval from the regional Directorate-General for Natural Heritage and Climate Action.
