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Repair work on the El Portús seafront promenade in Cartagena got underway this Monday June 29, bringing an end to more than a year of waiting for local residents. Workers and machinery arrived early in the morning to start fixing the serious damage caused by the storms that battered the coast back in March 2024.

 

The works finally got going after months of administrative back and forth, with the Cartagena City Council and the Coastal Authority repeatedly trading blame over delays in authorising the project. Throughout that time residents kept reporting the promenade's worsening state and pushed for an urgent fix, worried about the sinkholes and the damage creeping ever closer to nearby homes.

 

Most of the work will focus on the western end of the promenade, where the waves have widened a serious sinkhole affecting both the road and the seawall. Emergency repairs were carried out last month but it’s hoped this will be a more permanent solution. The project covers removing the damaged pavement, stabilising the soil, building two reinforced concrete walls to shore up the sea defences and protect nearby foundations, relocating affected utilities and rebuilding the pavement and masonry wall.

 

The City Council put the contract out to tender with a budget of €58,442.93 and a planned timeframe of three weeks.

 

With the works starting just as summer gets underway, residents are hopeful that a problem that's dragged on far longer than it should have will finally be sorted.

 

Isabel Andreu of the PSOE visited the site to see the works in person. In a video shared on her social media, she criticised the local government for taking so long to get the project moving and thanked the residents' association and other local groups for their efforts.

 

Luis Saura, president of the residents' association, said he was delighted to see the work finally begin.

 

"We were on pins and needles. We thought the summer would pass and the work wouldn't even begin," he told this newspaper.

 

"Between permits and authorisations, look at the dates we've gotten ourselves into. They've just started and we're already eager for them to be finished so that the residents can get back into their homes and enjoy at least this last half of summer," Mr Saura added.