Palma, Feb 8 (EFE).- The environmental association Terraferida has called on all political parties to promote a new legal framework that curbs the “voracity” of urban growth in Mallorca, where from 2015 to 2021 a area of 5,500 square meters every day.
The spokesman for the protectionist organization, Jaume Adrover, predicted this Wednesday that “the future of Mallorca will be completely urban” if the “insane speed” of urbanization is not stopped.
Terraferida has carried out a study with aerial images for public use to determine the evolution of the occupation for urban land uses during the last six years for which there is information, in which 1,149 hectares have been built, 70% in rural areas.
The “artificialized” land from 2015 to 2021, equivalent to eleven times the area of the center of Palma or 1,400 soccer fields, has been allocated 63% to residential and tourist use, and almost two thirds of these constructions and occupations of lots are in rustic areas.
The second most voluminous urbanization variant, with 111 hectares, corresponds to photovoltaic power plants, a type of installation that continues to expand and which, in Adrover’s opinion, will never be enough to supply Mallorca if the current rate of growth is maintained.
From 2015 to 2021, roads and parking lots were built that occupied 99 hectares (80 in rustic), in 53 hectares (38 urban) commercial, industrial and service facilities were built, and 48 hectares were destroyed for the extraction of stone and gravel, a need parallel to the construction boom.
“This is turning us into an isolated city in the middle of the sea”, which is occupied “at a brutal speed” at the cost of agricultural exploitation, the loss of valuable ecosystems and the increase in housing prices, “which does not stop grow,” Adrover stressed.
In his opinion, urban growth does not generate housing for those who lack it, but for a luxury market conditioned by foreign residential demand and pressure from the tourism sector.
Although the regulations currently limit buildings on rustic land to a maximum of 300 to 500 square meters, the reality is that many of the chalets exceed that maximum by more than ten times, having garden areas, parking lots, pergolas, swimming pools, roads, etc. has denounced the environmental leader.
“The legislation we have is no longer useful for us,” stressed Adrover, who has questioned whether political leaders have “the intention” to slow down growth and has expressed suspicion that they have decided to pay “the social shield” with the increase in income generated by construction.
