Unexpected twist in a few days. Finally, the sand from the dredging of the mouths of the ports of Sitges will end up on two of the beaches most affected by the recent storms: those of Sant Sebastià and El Garraf. Despite the frontal opposition during the last five years of the municipal government, the mayoress, Aurora Carbonell, has given in because the Demarcation of Coasts in Catalonia will ask the Ministry for the Ecological Transition to declare the state of emergency for the beaches after the last storm.
The mayoress now states that she will “collaborate in whatever is necessary”. And he states “the importance of adding synergies between all the administrations involved to work with appropriate measures for this situation”. Carbonell added yesterday that “as we have always said, we foresee these measures, which are extraordinary, to attend to exceptional situations and to ensure that our beaches can be used”, although he insisted on the fact that “we must continue working in longer-term measures”.
But until just a few days ago, the mayor was against dumping the sand from the mouths of the ports on the damaged beaches, citing environmental issues, as published by La Vanguardia on Monday. “The sand that has been dredged due to safety issues from Sitges d’Aiguadolç has been deposited in a strategic point because the dynamics of the coast bring it to the beaches of Balmins and Sant”, he explained, without asking that this sand be used on the beaches
The port of Sitges, against its will, ended up dumping 6,000 m of sand into the sea.
Oskar Stöber, the president of a Sitges Hospitality Association who ended up leaving the coastal table indignantly alleging the “inaction” of the City Council, celebrated yesterday that the government chaired by Carbonell “has finally seen, still that they were the last to realize that the only short-term solution to save the summer season in view of the current emergency is to pour sand on the beaches”. Of course, Stöber, who remembers that they have been calling for this solution for years, wants the actions to be carried out on all the beaches of Sitges that require it, and not only those of Sant Sebastià and El Garraf, and that it is also protected the promenade
The president of Ports Catalunya-Associació Catalana de Ports Esportius i Turísticos and executive president of the port of Sitges-Aiguadolç, Albert Bertran, celebrated that the mayor “has loosened the rope”. Bertran says that the dredging will be paid for by the ministry and that the sand will be dumped on the beaches within a month. They will extract 20,000 m3 of sand from each of the mouths of the ports of Sitges. The one in the port of Sitges will be used for Sant Sebastià and Vallcarca and Cubelles beaches; that of the port of Garraf, on its own beach of Les Casetes, and that of port Ginesta, on the beaches of Baix Llobregat and Barcelonès.
