After many years of planning and renovation and an agonizingly long period of uncertainty, it now seems that the port of Molinar in Mallorca can finally reopen after years of renovation work. In any case, the recent award of the concession for the operation of the port and the Club Nautico suggests this.
It has been just over a year since the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) decided at a meeting in Palma in November 2023 to select the company Nautic Assets Developers Team for the concession to manage the berths for smaller boats up to eight meters in length at El Molinar harbor, including the harbor building.
El Molinar (in Mallorcan, Es Molinar or simply Molinar) is a neighborhood in the Playa de Palma district of the Spanish city of Palma de Mallorca, which borders the districts of Polígono de Levante, Son Malherido, Can Pere Antoni, Coll de Rabasa and Son Ferriol.
The name El Molinar comes from the mills that were located in the area at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The district is located about four kilometers east of the center of the Balearic capital, directly by the sea, and is still considered an insider tip among visitors to the island.
According to a report on portsdebalears.com, the tender documents set an initial usage fee of 58,500 euros per year; Nautic Assets Developers Team had also proposed an additional annual fixed amount of 68,000 euros for “improving usage and activity fees”, which would be added to the previous amounts.
It also stated that “the future concessionaire will invest 672,000 euros in the installation of new pontoons and other facilities” and that the concession will be awarded for a period of 18 years. In addition, the company will take over the building, which will be used as a bar-cafeteria-restaurant on the ground floor and for social and cultural activities on the first floor.
The APB is thus fulfilling its commitment to “maintain the dimensions of the Port of El Molinar and the typology of its boats, improve the integration of the port into the city, promote the sporting component and ensure that the moorings retain their social character”.
In the same dock, Caló d’en Rigo, there are also 2,500 square meters occupied by a new construction of 600 square meters, a seating terrace and a dry dock ramp, which have been ceded to the Government of the Balearic Islands for the future installation of a technical center for water sports. The APB is waiting to receive the construction project from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports.
Initially, the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands had assumed that the work would be completed by the beginning of 2024.
In November 2023, the APB had still assumed that the fitting-out work in the marina of El Molinar would be completed by next spring, i.e. the beginning of 2024.
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The APB says it is “committed to preserving the structure of the historic building, taking into account the urban planning conditions of the Special Plan for the Port of Palma, the interest in the cultural heritage that stems from its history and the type of building”.
However, this proved to be more difficult than expected. The reason: the actual condition of the structure was “much worse than expected”, which led to a “slowdown in the work” and finally to an “increase in the budget to 1.2 million euros”.
At the time, no account was taken of other upcoming works that required tendering, such as the dredging of the seabed of the El Molinar harbor basin “to remove 1,400 cubic meters of rock and sand that will have to be removed after the completion of the harbor basin in 2020,” as it was stated at the time.
All of this ultimately led to the originally announced completion date of early 2024 not being met; even by the end of this year, there was still no sign of the area reopening.
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El Molinar, the second: now the port is “definitely” to be opened in 2025, it is said
The news that the El Molinar port is now “definitely” to be opened in 2025 has come as all the more of a surprise, as the Mallorcazeitung writes in a recent news article. According to this, the Balearic port administration APB “announced on Monday (11/11) that the company Nautic Assets Developers Team had been awarded the concession to operate the port and the Club Náutico”; the agreement is valid for the next 18 years.
The Palma-based company has committed to investing 672,000 euros in the construction of jetties and other facilities in the coming months, as originally planned. In addition, the company is to receive the keys to the (now completely renovated) club building “soon” and begin to furnish it accordingly.
According to the article, a restaurant is to be built in the basement again, while the upper floor is reserved for “cultural activities”. Everything should be ready by the start of the 2025 holiday season at the latest. The marina will then have space for 60 boats with a maximum length of eight meters.
The original plan was to enlarge the harbor basin sevenfold and equip it with a swimming pool and a tennis court.
Work on the EL Molinar site had already begun five years ago in spring 2019. As mallorcazeitung.es reports, years of protests by local residents against the project had preceded this. The reason: the original plan had been to enlarge the harbor sevenfold. Among other things, it was to include a swimming pool and a tennis court. However, the residents finally managed to prevent this.
Many parts of the harbor have been completed for quite some time, and the newly designed harbor now offers pedestrians much more space than before. However, the question remains: will this time the schedule for the actual opening of the harbor actually be met? Or will there be further difficulties in the completion process that will delay the opening once again? SeaHelp will keep you informed at this point.
