Benidorm is putting out to tender the project for firefighting measures in El Moralet urban park

Benidorm City Council has launched the tender for the project "Development of Public Use Management Actions in the Moralet Natural Area," following its publication on the State Procurement Platform. This project falls under Action Number 1 of the 2023 Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan and is one of the actions requested by the City Council for which a grant was obtained.

In that year's call for proposals, Benidorm City Council requested a grant to carry out several actions under the Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan, within the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan - financed with funds from the European Union-NextGeneration-EU, including the Territorial Sustainability Plan of the Valencian Community and coordinated by Turisme Comunitat Valenciana. The budget for this project amounts to €434,808.85 (VAT included).

The executive project for carrying out public use management actions in Moralet, drafted by engineer José Carlos Sandoval, was submitted to City Hall on July 29th and has received a favourable report from the municipal technical engineer. The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, explained that "the contracting process will be open and the processing will be ordinary, with the deadline for submitting bids ending on May 5th at 11:59 p.m."

According to the aforementioned project, the actions consist of "the construction of a firebreak around the park's perimeter, pruning and thinning in wooded areas, and the installation of eleven thermal fire cameras." The pruning and thinning work will be carried out in forests with a very high workload, and pruning will be carried out at a maximum height of 1.75 meters. These tasks will also include felling some dry conifers with a normal diameter greater than 30 centimetres.

The park's perimeter firebreak is being built because "since it is a forest park nestled within the urban area, the proximity of the homes poses a certain risk in the event of a fire, so this firebreak is being built to protect the homes, in addition to forestry and thinning work," the mayor explained.

The work consists of the complete removal of the existing shrub and undergrowth to a width of five meters. Vegetation will also be addressed with complete brush clearing and tree felling to a width of seven meters. A 13-meter-wide strip will be created, with a prudent distance between the crowns of the largest trees.

Finally, the project also includes the installation of autonomous fire surveillance cameras that "will be equipped with thermal temperature sensors to detect potential fires and sudden temperature changes, so that action can be taken as quickly as possible if necessary," explained Toni Pérez. Eleven such cameras are planned for installation at strategic points throughout the facility for improved surveillance and detection.