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Los Nietos still waiting for beach pontoons as summer rolls on
Earlier this year, plans were put foward to install floating pontoons on five beaches along the Mar Menor
Los Nietos has reached mid July without the floating pontoons and access ramps that usually make its beaches accessible for swimmers, and residents are once again frustrated by the delay.
Nani Vergara, president of the Los Nietos Neighbourhood Association, says this is the third year running that the walkways have arrived late.
"We've been suffering delays for three years now," she said. "Putting up walkways in mid or late July only to take them down in September…"
Vergara says the pontoons used to be ready well before summer even started.
"They were already in place by Easter, and the beach was ready. That's how it used to be done," she said, questioning how planning has been handled in recent years and pointing the finger at former Coastal Services head Gonzalo López Pretel.
She claims that by the time leadership of the department changed hands, the paperwork needed for installation still wasn't finished.
"In May, neither the contract nor the specifications were ready. If there's no contract, nothing can be done," she said.
The contract was only awarded on July 8, meaning installation of the walkways is now happening well into the high season, something Vergara believes proper planning should have avoided given the pontoons need sorting every single year. She doesn't hold current Councillor for Coastal Areas Álvaro Valdés responsible though, since he only took on the role in early June after Vox left the municipal government.
"We can't ask more of people who have just taken office and have only been in it for a month," she said, adding that Councillor for Infrastructure Diego Ortega had already started unblocking the contracting process before Valdés took over.
Vergara compares the situation favourably to problems seen last year with Cartagena's beach bars, saying things have clearly improved this time round. She says she's pleased with how attentive the current team has been to Los Nietos, though she's made clear the association will keep holding the council to account.
"When they do something wrong, I'll be the first to criticise them," she said. Even so, residents' core demand remains the same, that the pontoons stop turning up once summer's already in full swing.
Image: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena
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