Almeria Port will become part of the city

ALMERIA’s Port Authority, city hall and Fundacion Bahia Almeriport plan to develop the port. The four-year Puerto-Ciudad project was formally announced in the Almeria Province Official Bulletin and approved by all official bodies involved.

Development will centre on the unused section of the port between the first San Miguel breakwater and the Levante quay, integrating the zone with the city and entirely changing its role.  The present port administrative offices will be moved to the customs building to free more space.

Installing restaurants and shops has already been mentioned but proposals will be revealed in the Plan Especial that the Port Authority is now putting together.

By law the Port Authority cannot invest in services that are not port-related although it will foot the bill for basic infrastructure used by the port, said the Authority’s president Trinidad Cabeo.

Finance will instead have to come from the private sector and Fundacion Bahia Almeriport is heading the project, creating a development and promotion division to attract private investors.

Almeria’s municipal corporation has agreed to meet all promotion costs during 2015 and part of 2016, confirmed the city’s mayor Luis Rogelio Rodriguez-Comendador during a radio interview.

The three parties to the agreement also guaranteed that despite the port’s integration into the city, plans to bring the railway line to the port will not be hindered.  The Port Authority will draw up a basic rail connection project respecting what is already set out in the Urban Development Plan (PGOU) and agreed with track operator ADIF.