The Murcia station ceased operations in 1974, in 1992 a land transfer agreement was approved, and in 2026 the tracks are still there. On April 13, the residents of Alicante woke up expectant because the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, was in the city to present, along with Mayor Luis Barcala and the President of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca, the long-awaited Central Park project. Days later, Puente himself announced the tendering of a contract to advance another key project: the Torrellano variant.
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These are all very costly, long-term plans and, in principle, much more complex than the removal of those unused tracks which, however, prevent access from the southern neighborhoods to the park that should have been, since its inauguration in 2010, its main expansion area. Without an agreement between the involved administrations, a question posed by Compromís at Thursday’s city council meeting was answered by the government team with such vagueness that it outraged the neighbors, who will demonstrate again next Thursday, May 7.
A question posed at the council meeting was answered by the government team with such vagueness that it outraged the neighbors
“The Parque del Mar is becoming an invisible park to the eyes of our political leaders. Without proper maintenance, with only two gardeners when there should be at least six, without lighting, without access, and increasingly surrounded by shacks and garbage,” states the neighborhood association in the protest call.
“Neither Mayor Luis Barcala nor Minister Óscar Puente seem to care, and to fight for the dignity of an environment, such as the southern access to Alicante, which in the end is to fight for the dignity of all Alicante, we will demonstrate again next Thursday, May 7, at 7 p.m.”
Sara Llobell, councilor of Compromís, recalled at the council meeting that the park remains “practically inaccessible” to most citizens, despite having been inaugurated in June 2010, and denounced that next to this green area there are “slum nuclei with people in extreme vulnerability, accumulation of weeds and pests.”
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Additionally, recently there was a fire that required the rapid action of firefighters, in the very neglected rear area of Casa Mediterráneo, a Spanish Government institution that hosts visits from diplomats, artists, and personalities from many countries and hosted the lunch of prime ministers at the 2022 Euro-Mediterranean Summit.
Recently there was a fire that required the rapid action of firefighters
All this happens, Llobell added, without the owner (ADIF), nor the City Council, “which should enforce compliance with the municipal ordinance,” taking action. The transfer of these lands from the State to the city would allow not only the longed-for access but also the expansion of the green area. Not only that, but other projects that remain stalled could be undertaken, such as the setback of Avenida de Elche towards the port or the connection of the southern neighborhoods with the fishing dock.
At the end of 2024, then Urban Planning councilor Rocío Gómez assured that a feasibility study had been commissioned to allow the disaffection of the lands so that the municipality could have them available.
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The response of the current Urban Planning councilor, Antonio Peral, stating that his department cannot make that document public because it is in the middle of its urban processing, has outraged the neighbors. Not only because of the lack of response, but because this is said “when the mayor of Alicante and his successive urban planning councilors have been talking and showing documents of the new Alicante Structural Plan for months, which is in full management process, and is the most important document of urban planning in this city.”
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