La Orotava regain access to Bollullo beach after six and a half months of closure. On December 30, 2021, a rockfall forced the Town Hall to prohibit access and initiate the procedure to carry out emergency works that would improve safety conditions in the event of new landslides. On the afternoon of this Friday, June 17, 2022, after a municipal investment of €186,000 and more than four months of work on the hillside, the Consistory ordered the reopening of the main bathing area of the Villa, located in the protected agricultural area of El Rincón.
The Villa, which has suffered from the closure of Los Patos beach since July 2013, once again enjoys its most accessible black sand cove just the week before the start of the patron saint festivities, the end of the school year and the official arrival of the summer. In the last 11 months, Bollullo beach has been closed for 8 and a half months. First between July 2 and September 3, 2021, and for the last time between December 30, 2021 and June 17, 2022.
The City Council of La Orotava In the middle of last February, emergency works began on a section of the slope of Bollullo beach where no action had been taken the previous summer. The local government (CC) highlights that “works have been carried out on a large part of this hillside for four months”, which has allowed a reopening that took place at two in the afternoon this Friday.
The Mayor of Orota, Francis Linareshighlights that the City Council has fulfilled the commitment made after the closure: «The beach opens for the summer, since no major incidents arose during the process, although it is a complicated area to carry out the work, most vertical».
In mid-January 2021, after an initial assessment by the municipal technicians, Linares signed the decree that approved the emergency declaration of the work necessary to try to prevent further landslides on the Bollullo beach cliff. According to reports from the Municipal Technical Officethe green light was then given to start the contracting file for the sanitation and protection works of a part of the cliff where on December 30, 2021 large rocks fell again on the only access path.
the villero government underlines in a statement that “this emergency declaration, which allowed the deadlines to be expedited, is fully justified because the beach remained closed to carry out actions that are totally necessary to guarantee the safety of people. In the January plenary session, the contracting proposal for the work was raised, which has been awarded to the company Solutiomespecialized in this type of interventions».
Before work began, it was necessary to formalize a lease for nearby land to stockpile materials and machinery. With this second intervention, it has almost been possible to clean up and protect between 60 and 80% of the cliff. To achieve a comprehensive solution, The Villero City Council hopes that the El Rincón Consortium “carry out the necessary expropriations to develop a global project that includes the path from Los Patos to Bollullo».
