Latest version of the POTALA (Or how we should be)

Well, well, well. The new version of the POTALA (Plan de Ordenación del Territorio del Levante Almeriense) has just arrived from Seville, with a few small changes and a few surprises. Not for general distribution to the huddled masses, I’m given to understand, but since every town hall in the area has been given a copy, why shouldn’t we poor taxpayers have a gander?

The POTALA is, as you will remember, the new grand plan for our area drawn up by idiots in Seville who have never been here, and the cornerstone of the whole plan is the infamous Llano Central, which is a new macrocity the size of Seville plonked in the centre of the Levante.

Would you like to see what the politicians have in store for the area? Well, we all would. So, despite the fact that the Junta has spent a lot of time and effort hiding them from public viewing, here they are in their full glory. In PDF, so you need Adobe Acrobat to view, and they’re big. Three plans of the same area, each with a different overlay.

Here’s a few details that jumped out at me in comparision with the previous plans:

Turre gets a bypass.
A new road from exit 520 to El Pinar and the Bedar road, behind Los Gallardos.
The road from exit 525 to Garrucha (continuing the Antas-Los Gallardos road), the Puerto Rey – Mojacar bypass, and the Mojacar Playa bypass through La Parata are staying the same.
New bus stations for Los Gallardos, Turre, Mojacar, Garrucha, Vera, as part of the unified transportation plan.
Mojacar does not get its new marina.
A large commercial area goes up from Mojacar Playa, along the Rio Aguas, to the Mojacar bypass.
Los Gallardos – Garrucha, and Los Gallardos – Turre – Mojacar roads are both marked for “upgrading”.
The large industrial area in Carboneras goes ahead, together with bus station, two new “tourism centres” and a large tourism / commercial centre zone. What, all together? What a wonderful idea. The tourists can sit on their hotel patios and watch the workers in the coal and steel plants. At least the Algarrobico is still marked as natural park.
Llano Central seems to be quite a bit bigger! It extends further towards Antas than I remember. Llano Central, of course, being the new macrocity.
Puerto Rey commercial centre expanded.
Villaricos gets a large commercial area.
Vera, Antas, marked as “productive areas” for industry.
Large urbanisation area between Cuevas and Villaricos (the golf courses that are already there, I presume).
Train line from the AVE line in Pulpi to Huercal Overa (potential station?) and upwards towards Albox!
All of Pulpi and Hurcal Overa are included in something mysteriously called “Plan of Ordenation of Porcine Resources”. Does that mean more, or fewer pigs?
Antas industrial area seems to have been toned down a tad.
For some reason, the river from Cuevas dam to Cuevas is now marked “for commercial use”, and Cuevas dam marked as a “general tourist resource”.
The old Bédar to Garrucha railway is finally being marked out as a walking route for hikers.
Domestic gas lines are supposed to be running to towns.
heh heh heh – the infamous Antas – Mojacar electric lines, which were the subject of so many protests a few years ago and are currently before the high courts of Andalucia, have been moved. Before the “electric corridor” was further away from the (illegal) route the pylons took (closer to Los Gallardos and down the river bed) – they now correspond.

And here’s something they don’t mention in the guidebooks: the centre of Carboneras is marked as a special danger area “as risk of catastrophe from accidents”. So is the coast off Villaricos, although I can’t think why (the fish farms, perhaps?). Also, the “radioactive” portions of Palomares seem a bit larger than before, possibly as a result of the last survey of the atomic bomb fallout sites.

I’ll add more as it ocurrs to me. For more articles and analysis on the POTALA, click here: POTALA Almeria plans and articles.

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