The
Ministry of Public Works of the
central Government approved on July 31 the sector guiding plans for the
airports of the Balearic Islands: Son Sant Joan, Son Bonet, Menorca and
Eivissa. The plans, that contemplate investments to increase the number
of passengers of the airport of the islands from 27.55 millions accounted
in 2000 to 50 millions for the following years, crash in to the current
initiatives to contain urban growth promoted by the Balearic Government
and the Insular Councils of Mallorca, Menorca, and Eivissa and Formentera.
As for the Son Sant Joan airport in Palma, the Ministry of Public Works
foresees increasing the current 19.5 million passengers up to 26 for the
year 2005 and up to 38 millions for the year 2015. The
GOB
Mallorca has denounced this situation in a recent press release and
has asked the
Mallorcan Council
and the
Balearic Government to oppose
the agreement of the Ministry of Public Works to approve the Sector Guiding
Plan of the Palma Airport, and also the plans of the other airports in
the Balearic Islands. According to the ecologists, the Plan approved by
the Ministry "constitutes a clear massification danger and a threat for
the conservation of the natural resources and the quality of life of residents,
and it even endangers the quality of the tourist product, as a result of
the saturation of natural spaces and infrastructures that the plan would
generate". More over, the GOB has announced the creation a Platform to
oppose the enlargement of the Palma airport.
The
GOB Menorca has also expressed
in a press release their worries about the foreseen enlargement of the
Menorca Airport, which will allow increasing the 2.7 million passengers
in 2000 to 3.4 millions in 2002 and to more than 5 millions in 2015. This
fact affects the future of the island of Menorca and it can mortgage the
urban growth contention measures contemplated in the Insular Territorial
Plan. The Menorcan ecologists also ask the
Menorcan
Council and the Balearic Government to oppose the Sector Guiding Plan
of the Menorca Airport approved by the Ministry of Public Works.
The
GEN-GOB Eivissa has also
expressed to the
EivissaWeb editorial
their opposition to the foreseen enlargement of the Eivissa airport, which
would pass from the 4.4 million passengers in 2000 to 5.2 millions in 2003
and to 6.98 millions in 2013. The ecologists form Eivissa subscribe the
request of the GOB Mallorca and the GOB Menorca and ask the Eivissa and
Formentera Council and the Balearic Government to oppose the Sector Guiding
Plan for the Eivissa Airport.