<h6><strong>Eduardo González </strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Government of Gibraltar authorized this Monday the construction of the second phase of the Eastside Project, a large luxury landfill resort in Spanish territorial waters that has been opposed by environmental organizations, the Government of Spain, and even two Gibraltarian ministers.</strong></h4> The Gibraltar Development and Planning Commission (DPC), under the Government of Fabián Picardo, has granted TNG Global Realty permission to move forward with Eastside, "a major infrastructure project that will provide affordable housing, leisure facilities, and green spaces, while respecting and protecting the surrounding natural environment, in line with the Government's commitment to biodiversity and marine conservation," according to a press release. The DPC reached this conclusion after several of its members visited the location of the future breakwater on Catalan Bay beach to assess its potential environmental impact. Eastside plans to build a hotel, 2,500 apartments, commercial facilities, a marina, a fuel station, and various related infrastructure on reclaimed land, in addition to a breakwater, coastal revetments, and dredging works on the eastern side of the Rock. As the local newspaper Europa Sur reported, the project had been rejected (or at least questioned) by residents, environmental organizations, and even two members of the Gibraltar Government: the Minister for Industrial Relations, Civil Contingencies, and Sport, Leslie Bruzon, and the Minister for the Environment, John Cortés. Official sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Diplomat last July that “Spain has repeatedly protested Gibraltar's infilling and coastal modification actions in Spanish territorial waters, each time they have occurred, and will continue to do so.” "These protests have been made in writing on numerous occasions. These actions are contrary to international law, in addition to violating Spanish and European environmental protection standards," they added. For its part, the organization Verdemar-Ecologistas en Acción has warned that these landfills on the eastern side of the Rock "are already modifying the dynamics of the coastline to the detriment of the beaches of La Línea de la Concepción, and if they continue with the expansion, the impact will be irreversible," according to a document submitted last December to the General Directorate of the Coast and the Sea of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, reported by Europa Sur. Last February, Verdemar-Ecologistas en Acción accused the Andalusian Regional Government of authorizing the export of stones extracted from the La Utrera quarry in Casares (Málaga) "for landfills in the Special Conservation Zone of the Eastern Strait of Gibraltar." Environmentalists have also accused the Spanish Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Interior of acting "absolutely passive" in the face of landfills that invade Spanish waters and endanger a protected area.
