Just 24 hours after he got the go-ahead to repair Storm Gloria damage, the machines rolled into action at Cala Gat.
The promenade was smashed to smithereens during the storm and the Mayor was livid after Madrid slapped a ban on Capdepera City Council doing the repairs and paying for the work themselves.
He organised a demonstration last weekend and called on local residents to help him force Madrid to take notice.
His ploy worked, Madrid caved and the repairs are now underway.
The Cala Gat promenade is scheduled to be finished by June and the project will cost around 2.2 million euros, but half of that will be paid by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Mayor Fernández is ecstatic.
"We have already talked to the Catering sector, Merchants, and Neighbours and although the promenades won’t be ready by Easter, they will be ready in June,” he promised.
When he went to the construction site to present the commissioning of the works, he made a point of thanking the public for taking part in the protest which he said “played a very important role in obtaining authorisation for the repairs,” adding, “today is a very important day that puts an end to a Kafkian discussion about who should take care of the promenade," he said.
Mayor Fernández met with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morán, the General Director of Costas, Ana María Oñoro on Monday and they managed to hammer out a solution that everyone was happy with.
"It's a good agreement,” said the Capdepera Mayor after the meeting. "They granted us ownership of the two promenades and we can now undertake the works. We lost a month and a half, but we did it in the end and the agreement can also be extended to the other affected municipalities.
The repairs to the Cala Rajada promenade were not as badly damaged and work there should be completed in just over a month at a cost of around 600,000 euros.
The Council has also been given permission to put more sand on the beaches at Canyamel, Cala Sa Font De Sa Cala and Cala de n’Aguait which were decimated during the storm.
"We will until the end of April to put the sand back on the beaches in case there are more storms," said the Mayor.
Cala Millor
The success of Mayor Fernández has encouraged other municipalities to demand action from the Costas.
Representatives from the municipalities of Sant Llorenç and Son Servera and the Manager of the Consortium of Cala Millor insist that problems caused by Storm Gloria in their areas are also extremely urgent and are demanding that the Costas "solve the problem before the start of the summer season to avoid the catastrophic consequences of beaches without sand".
They are also calling for the public to join a rally this Saturday on Cala Nau beach at 1100 to force Madrid to pay attention.
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