Puertos del Estado welcomes the Town Council of Barbate, which intends to make changes in the port
- Salvador de la Encina states his "willingness to help" the initiative that seeks to incorporate Barbate into the general interest ports system, but that "difficulties exist"
09-24-2019 (Ministry of Development). The president of Puertos del Estado, Salvador de la Encina, has received a delegation from Barbate, raising the possibility of incorporating its port into the general interest ports system; it would be consequently ascribed to the Port Authority of Bahía de Cádiz after severing from the Public Agency for Andalusian Ports, the authority to which it currently belongs.
Salvador de la Encina has expressed his "heartfelt support and institutional loyalty" to a process that "will inevitably be medium and long-term". "I am delighted to be able to help by examining this initiative with professional objectivity, but it is clear to everyone that huge difficulties need to be overcome in order to reach our objective".
The Barbate delegation was headed by Javier Rodríguez and José Antonio Varo, first and second deputy mayors of the Town Council of Barbate, along with Antonio Pérez and Francisco González, secretary and coordinator of the citizen platform "Recuperemos El Retín".
The delegation stated the need to "reactivate the economy" in the town with various projects, to include this port initiative.
The president of Puertos del Estado fully agreed with this general approach to reactivate the local economy and has offered his help, particularly in order to correctly examine the port initiative and "weigh up all its pros and cons, optimistically yet realistically".
One of the main obstacles would be port of Barbate's severance from the Public Agency for Andalusian Ports, for which such authority must issue a binding opinion in favor. Another issue is vessel size, as general interest ports service large freighter traffic with over 16-meter draft. Finally, the Ports Act would need to be amended with the support of a majority in Congress.
The Barbate delegation thanked him for his clear and straightforward analysis and proposed a future meeting to revisit the initiative in light of the data submitted by Puertos del Estado, as well as its commitment to try and arrange a meeting with the manager of the Public Agency for Andalusian Ports, Rafael Merino, in order to jointly find a solution.
