- At today’s meeting of the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of València (PAV), the green light was given to both the specifications and the terms and conditions for the granting of an administrative concession for the occupation of nautical facilities in the northern area of the Port of València
- Mar Chao, president of the Port Authority of València, said after the meeting held this morning that “The Marina has been and is a priority issue on which we have worked intensively hand in hand with València City Council with the aim that this space retains its essence as a meeting point, leisure, innovation, cultural and sporting activities. Because Valenciaport is València”
- The specifications approved today include a clause to make it easier for València to hold the America’s Cup again
- María José Catalá pointed out after the Board meeting that “the good relationship between the city and the Port is already being noticed because we are working hand in hand to turn La Marina into a strategic enclave”.
- The Board of Directors has also approved authorising the president of Valenciaport to initiate the necessary procedures with the aim of setting up a cooperation body for the management of the assets, except those destined for nautical-sports and nautical-recreational uses, and assets that make up La Marina de València.
València, 5 December 2023.- The Port Authority of València (PAV) has held this morning the second meeting of its Board of Directors after the arrival of Mar Chao to the presidency of the port agency. The meeting approved the specifications and the General and Particular Conditions of the “public tender for the adaptation and operation, under administrative concession, of the nautical-sports facilities in the northern area of the Port of València”.
This call for tenders also responds to the commitments made in relation to the case opened against the Kingdom of Spain by the European Commission for alleged State aid to the Valencia 2007 Consortium (CV07), which questioned that CV07 operated the Marina under more advantageous conditions than other private concessionaires.
The drafting of the specifications has been validated by Puertos del Estado and the criteria provided by Valencia City Council have been taken into account. The nautical-sports facilities, which are the subject of the tender, are distributed over three docks – the inner dock, the north dock and the south dock – which currently house more than 800 moorings for boats between 7 and 170 metres in length. “It is a public tender which is intended for experienced and technically solvent marina managers, given the high value of the environment where the facilities are located,” said Chao.
It is intended that this space retains its essence and precisely for this purpose, the Board of Directors has approved to authorize the president of Valenciaport to initiate the necessary procedures in order to implement a cooperative body for the management of property (except those for nautical-sports and nautical-recreational uses) and assets that make up the Marina de València, in response to the proposal made by the Plenary of the City Council. “València – indicated Mar Chao – is a good model of port-city interaction; in fact, the Valencian port is one of the ports that allocates the most surface area to these uses”.
The specifications approved today include a clause to make it easier for València to hold the America’s Cup again, specifying that the concessionary company will actively collaborate in the holding of the America’s Cup (or whatever name is subsequently assigned to it).
For her part, the Mayoress of València, María José Catalá, pointed out that, together with this clause and the joint City Council-Port Commission, “now we are beginning to see the light and we are beginning to take the appropriate decisions and resolutions to give La Marina de València everything it needs, which is legal certainty, peace of mind, definition, collaboration between the València Port Authority, the City Council and also the Generalitat and, above all, that there is not a single problem so that a large investor or a current investor can continue in the Marina or can continue in the Generalitat, collaboration between the Port Authority of Valencia, the City Council and also the Generalitat and, above all, that there is not a single but so that a large investor or a current investor can continue in La Marina or can land in the Marina and can generate all the opportunities, talent, jobs and, above all, initiatives that can be generated in the maritime area of the city.
“The port and the city must work together to create spaces for recreation, economic opportunities, leisure, culture and this is what we are working on”, added the president of the PAV. A point of view shared by the Mayoress: “the good relationship between the city and the Port is already being noticed because we are working hand in hand to convert the Marina into a strategic enclave”.
Other Council business
- Updating of the prices of the project for the construction of the container quay in the North Extension
The Board of Directors held today also approved the proposal to update the prices of the construction project for the container quay in the North Extension of the Port of València, an update which, according to Mar Chao, “has no influence whatsoever on the project which is pending approval by the Council of Ministers”. The prices approved by the Board of Directors in December 2022 for this project have been left out of date as the budget was formulated in the first quarter of 2021, using unit prices for materials, machinery and labour corresponding to 2020: 542,694,149.17 euros including VAT. Therefore, one year has passed since the project was approved and almost two years since the first cost estimate was made.
The continuous and persistent upward trend in prices in the new period of time has led the Port Authority of València to update the prices of the different work units included in the construction project approved in 2022, resulting in a new budget for this same work of 660,387,997.83 euros including VAT.
With regard to the new terminal, the president of the València Port Authority stressed that “as I have already stated in every public appearance and in my inauguration, the start of work on the new north terminal is a priority and the undisputed number one objective of this presidency”.
- Delimitation of the Areas of Port Uses of the Port of Gandia
The PAV Board has also approved the Proposal for the Delimitation of the Areas of Port Uses (DEUP) of the Port of Gandia, following the report of the Directorate General for Coasts and the Sea. With the new DEUP, the PAV disaffects for public use the northern area of the port known as Passeig del Moll dels Borja, up to a few metres before the breakwater; and the Platja de Venècia, which will be managed by the D Gral de Costas. Likewise, the Tinglados Fruteros will be provided for public use and to improve the port-city interrelationship.
- Appointments:
It is also worth highlighting the approval of the replacement of Mr. Francesc Sanchez, whose professionalism and commitment have been highlighted by the current president.
Francesc Sanchez has been appointed president of the Valenciaport Foundation and will occupy – in the PAV from 1 January – the Deputy Directorate of Digital Transformation and Innovation, to bring together under the same umbrella and optimise the coordination of the head of Digital Transformation and the head of Innovation.
In its place, the appointment has been approved as the new Director General of the PAV – effective 1 January 2024 – of Mr Enrique Belda Esplugues, Doctor in Civil Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, career civil servant, with recognised experience in port techniques and management, extensive experience in senior public management in the field of engineering, management of large migratory operations through ports, digital transformation and artificial intelligence, and currently Deputy Director General of Information and Communications Systems for Security of the Ministry of the Interior.
In order to make the organisation chart more business-oriented and to be able to anticipate the needs of our customers in an increasingly dynamic, demanding and changing environment that requires us to be at the forefront, this change in the organisation chart is motivated by the fact that we must not lose sight of the fact that the ultimate aim of the Port Authority of València is to provide the best service to the business community.
Likewise, a change has been approved in the Secretariat of the Board / new secretariat as of January. Francisco Parra, State Lawyer and member of the Board, is the new secretary of the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of València, replacing Alicia Paz who, at her own request, has returned to Puertos del Estado. In what was her last Board meeting, Alicia Paz was thanked by all the members and, in particular, by Mar Chao, who thanked her for her work in the PAV, first as General Secretary and later as Secretary of the Board.