It was only yesterday that we reported on the 250,000-euro budget promised for Costa Tropical beach regeneration; today we report that it won’t begin until the beginning of July…

Towns all along the Costa Tropical have reacted with incredulity and indignation – how can Costas in Madrid possibly propose that the beaches, brimming with tourists, have heavy machinery rumbling back and forth?

More to the point, why hasn’t it been carried out before? Costas has offered in its defence that it was waiting for the spring gales period to conclude…

In the specific case of Salobreña, the work on the eastern end of the Paseo Marítimo will frontally collide with beach users, with lorries plying the beach road causing not only congestion and dust, but also a serious risk to milling pedestrians. Such is the complete absurdity of such a scenario that the Salobreña Town Hall is calling for the work to be postponed until after the summer – better an incomplete paseo section during the peak season than summer chaos.

Editorial Comment: there was a case in Almuñécar of a business repairing a dangerous defect under its terrace caused by wave erosion, paying for it out of its own pocket; according to the proprietor, Costas had told him that there were no funds for the repairs and that it would have to stay that way for the foreseeable future. When Costas found out about the emergency work carried out by the worried business owner, they not only allegedly threatened to fine them, but they also reportedly forced them to dismantle the repair work and put it back to its defective state.