- The Mayoress and the President of the Port Authority hold the first meeting of the Inter-administrative Cooperation Body City Hall-Port for the management of the spaces of the old dock of the Port
- Both institutions are already working on 3 rehabilitation and landscape integration projects which will focus on the surroundings of the Clock Building, the Paseo Elevado (Elevated Walkway) de la Marina and the Customs Wharf to improve these public spaces which can be enjoyed by the public
- ‘We have left behind the times when nothing happened in la Marina. We are reactivating this area as a space for entrepreneurship and innovation, allowing the expansion and installation of key aspects, and we are also going to create a friendlier environment’
The Mayoress of València, María José Catalá, and the President of the Port Authority of València (PAV), Mar Chao, held this morning the first meeting of the Inter-administrative Cooperation Body created by the Port Authority of València and València City Council for the management of the spaces located in the old dock of the Port of València.
This inter-administrative cooperation body is made up of 4 members: the Mayoress of València, María José Catalá, the President of the PAV, Mar Chao, the Councillor for Heritage of Valencia City Council, José Marí Olano and the Secretary General of the PAV, Jorge Herrero. ‘The aim of the meeting is to bring order to the mess we found when we came to government,’ said the mayoress.
‘It has been a very fruitful first meeting and we have made a strong start because we have tackled three projects financed by the PAV for an amount of 14 million euros for the regeneration of la Marina area with the aim of improving the area and creating more pleasant surroundings for the enjoyment of the citizens,’ said the mayoress.
The three projects focus on the rehabilitation and landscape integration of the area around the Clock Building, the Paseo Elevado (Elevated Walkway) of la Marina and the Muelle de la Aduana (Customs Wharf).
As for the area around the Clock Building, the scope of action is between the Clock Building and the Old Maritime Station where the work will consist of improving the paving, landscaping and lighting, always taking into account the correct accessibility of the spaces. The Port has already awarded the drafting of the project and an investment of 1.85 million euros is foreseen.
On the other hand, the action of the Paseo Elevado of la Marina, due to the marine exposure and the passage of time, the promenade requires an important rehabilitation action. The action would consist of the structural rehabilitation of the promenade, replacement of the current lighting, improvement of the paving, improvement of accessibility and safety for people on the promenade, and installation of shades and street furniture. This action has a budget of approximately 5 million euros, which will also be financed by the PAV.
And, finally, the action in the Muelle de la Aduana, where very important deterioration has been detected, and where an action of more than 7 million euros is planned to be carried out by Valenciaport.
‘The Port Authority of València has always been sensitive to the environment in which it is located, which is why we are going to speed up these tenders as much as possible and we hope to have some of them ready by 2027. We have to follow the timescales of the Administration: to put out the tenders, public tenders… But in a short time, we are going to have a totally regenerated area, an area of high civic value’, said Mar Chao, president of the Port Authority of València.
The mayoress stressed that ‘we have left behind the times when nothing happened in la Marina. We are reactivating this area as a space for entrepreneurship and innovation, allowing the expansion and installation of key aspects, and we are also going to generate a friendlier environment’.
In the same vein, Chao said, ‘today’s effort is a clear example of a before and an after of a situation that we find ourselves in 2023. Thanks to the loyal collaboration with the València City Council, we have managed to process this agreement in record time, working side by side for this city’.
In this sense, the mayoress, María José Catalá, recalled that in just over a year and a half of government, the green light has been given to the expansion of Marina de Empresas in the former Alinghi base, ‘a project that was about to go to another city because its expansion was blocked and the previous team preferred a Labora building to one that was committed to entrepreneurship. This City Council unblocked the situation, allowing the expansion of an extremely important project for the city, such as Marina de Empresas, which represents an investment of more than 14 million euros’. Likewise, in the last quarter of 2024, the green light was given for the concession of the former Iberdrola base to the technology company Sésame.
‘We want la Marina to be the innovation and technology hub of reference, but we also want this space to be integrated into the city with regeneration and landscape integration projects, and we have already taken very important steps in a short time,’ said the mayoress. To achieve this objective, the president of the PAV has confirmed that she plans to allocate initially ‘14 million euros from its investment plan to the three projects announced today’.