Orihuela Council has received authorisation from the Provincial Coastal Service to reopen the passage that connects the Aguamarina pedestrian footpath with La Caleta in Cabo Roig. The walkway was closed by the Council in December 2021 due to a court ruling, which forced pedestrians to take a detour of two kilometers to reach the beach or to continue along the coastal walkway. This resulted in numerous and on-going complaints from residents and holidaymakers.
The authorisation comes after former councillor Ángel Noguera, who was recently dismissed by Mayor Carolina Gracia, submitted a request to reopen the promenade in January after expropriating the land from its owners. The Ministry granted authorization for the connection to be re-established a few days later. The conditions sate that the action be carried out in accordance with the documentation presented in January and completed within a maximum period of one year from March. However, the construction project must first go through the plenary session and an expropriation agreement must be reached with the community of owners.
It is believed that the Council has offered a fair price of 66,000 euros, while the owners have requested 2 million euros, along with an additional million for the developer of a plot on the other side of the promenade towards La Caleta. If an agreement is not reached, the price will have to be decided by a court of arbitration, which will only add further delays.
The walkway was approved before the Law of Coasts and the PGOU in 1990, which provided that the first line was of public property. However, the Council at that time did not expropriate the section that gave continuity to the promenade along the entire coastline. In 2013, residents of Bellavista built a wall to close the path along the seafront, which was subsequently ordered to be demolished by the former Town Planning Councillor in 2015. However, the courts later declared the demolition illegal, and the wall was restored to its original state in December 2021, closing the walkway once again.
The Council then announced that based on the general interest it had applied for expropriation and stated that the matter would be resolved with the passage reopened before the summer of 2022. Councillor José Aix stated that the expropriation “should have been resolved a long time ago.” It is hoped that the steps being taken are done so speedily, so that the walkway can be reopened before the summer.