Benidorm will invest 1.9 million euros in 13 projects subsidized by the Biodiversity Foundation

Benidorm City Council will undertake a total of thirteen projects with an investment of €1,932,902.53 as part of the project "Green and Water: Rooting Benidorm in its Natural Environment." These projects are part of the second round of grants from the Biodiversity Foundation, aimed at the renaturalization and resilience of Spanish cities. The grant from this organisation represents approximately 90% of the total.

These thirteen projects are summarised in the development of a Strategic Renaturalization Plan, with a budget of €95,000. Tree planting will also be undertaken on roads in Rincón de Loix (€175,000), the Levante area (€225,000), the Centro area (€170,000), and the Foietes area (€80,000). A micropark will also be built on Avenida Murcia and Avenida Cuenca (€325,000) and Avenida Almería (€275,000). The creation of sustainable school playgrounds for €227,092.50 and the implementation of Environmental Education Campaigns for €134,999.99 are also planned. A Governance and Participation Plan (€49,999.97), a Communication and Awareness Plan (€50,000), and an Indicator Measurement and Monitoring Plan (€55,000) are also planned.

Finally, the implementation of green spaces in the Torrejó municipal building (€70,000) was also contemplated. However, in this case, the project will be called "Green Roofs on Streets "to increase the municipal green space in public spaces in locations with underground infrastructure around areas such as Rincón, Levante, Centro, and Foietes," explained the Councillor for Parks and Gardens, José Ramón González de Zárate.

Currently, some projects have already begun, such as the planting of trees in different neighbourhoods of the city, as a minor contract is being processed for the drafting of a single project that covers the entire tree planting. The same applies to the projects for the creation of microparks.

In the case of the Governance and Participation Plans and the Communication Plan, the technical specifications have already been drafted and are awaiting tender. The technical specifications for the Environmental Education campaigns are also being drafted. The actions related to the Strategic Renaturalization Plan and the Indicator Measurement and Monitoring Plan are covered by a technical assistance contract for the drafting of the renaturalization plans.

Finally, following the follow-up meetings, the Biodiversity Foundation was proposed to reallocate a portion of the financial resources from other discarded actions to the implementation of Inclusive and Sustainable School Playgrounds, which is currently the most advanced.

González de Zárate specified that "a reprogramming of the initially planned actions" has been carried out, taking into account "the technical feasibility of their development in terms of the time required to obtain the necessary supra-municipal authorisations and the actual execution of the actions." In this regard, it is noted that the Biodiversity Foundation grants will be applied to those actions certified by December 31 of this year.

Thus, the City Council has decided to discard for the time being some planned interventions, such as the peri-urban ecological restoration of the "Green Ring," the connection of the natural environment with the urban grid, the reintroduction of water into the Xixo ravine, the regeneration of blue environments such as the Murtal pond and Els Tolls pond, the planting of trees in park-and-ride parking areas, the creation of an "oasis nursery," the bird count in the municipal area, and the creation of a raptor reintroduction laboratory.

The Councillor for Parks and Gardens clarified, however, that in the case of the intervention in the Xixo ravine, "it has been discarded because, since the third phase of the El Moralet urban park, which includes this ravine, has been awarded, its adaptation will be undertaken to make it accessible to people." Regarding the planting of trees in the park-and-ride parking lots, the councillor clarified that "the only municipally owned parking lot is the one in Beniardá, and the renovation and improvement project that has already been awarded includes trees, as was done in the La Cala parking lot. The other parking lots are private, and therefore, we cannot intervene."