The future Port Olímpic will promote the 'blue economy' and gastronomy

The Barcelona City Council has kicked off the great transformation of the Port Olímpic. The project will have an investment of more than 40 million euros to convert it into a new space for residents that promotes popular nautical activities, the blue economy, and quality and local gastronomy. Works to provisionally reform the promenade area of the Mestral and Gregal quays have already begun, and it is expected that Barcelonians will be able to enjoy this area starting from the end of December. The works will allow the recovery of a total of 10,000 square meters to be used for citizen use: sitting, walking, or practicing sports. To do this, the terraces and the two vehicle parking lanes that currently exist will be removed.

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This first action is part of the council's objective to integrate the Port Olímpic with the city and provide it with social and daily uses for residents, especially for those in the Sant Martí district, as highlighted by the Deputy Mayor for Ecology, Urban Planning, Infrastructures and Mobility, Janet Sanz, who maintains that they have opted for a temporary reform of this area so that people can use it now, and, furthermore, so as not to stop the marina.

On the other hand, the rehabilitation of the Dic de Recer will begin next week. This is one of the most important actions to guarantee safety and will consist of ensuring the correct functionality of the Port Olímpic and solving the overflow problems suffered by the infrastructure. Specifically, actions will be taken to jointly reinforce the Dic de Recer and the four submerged breakwaters that protect it on the sea side. Preparatory work will now be carried out and, starting in January, the manufacture of concrete blocks will begin in the port of Vallcarca, in Garraf. In March, it is planned to start transporting the elements by sea and installing them directly on the breakwater, with the forecast of finishing all work in May 2022.

Another of the reform phases that is also advancing is the project for the new access that will connect Avenida del Litoral with the lower part of Moll de Mestral. The Barcelona City Council has already awarded the drafting of the executive project and foresees that the works will begin at the end of 2021 and finish at the beginning of 2023. This intervention will improve accessibility, permeability, and continuity with the Vila Olímpica neighborhood and the Parc del Port Olímpic, and barriers and unevenness will be eliminated.

Boost to the 'blue economy'

The council wants to boost the economy linked to the sea in the future Port Olímpic, which will be publicly managed and will be transformed into a "living port, open 365 days a year, with accessible activities for everyone." The first deputy mayor Jaume Collboni emphasizes that there are not many cities in Europe that have a "symbiosis" between technology, sea, and entrepreneurship like the one in Barcelona and defends that they will play this card "to the fullest," with the forecast of creating 200 jobs linked to this sector.

The spaces that will host the blue economy will be Moll de Mestral and Dic de Recer, and the drafting of both projects is in the bidding phase. The first step of these works is the recovery of the spaces occupied by nightlife in Moll de Mestral: only four premises have voluntarily returned the keys and there are 26 pending. Collboni assures that this space will be fully recovered before the end of the year, after they have opened the judicial route to achieve it. The deputy mayor recalls that the type of leisure that was carried out in these premises "is not what is wanted" by the City Council because, among other issues, it was a source of insecurity. "Sooner or later we will recover the use and control of the spaces. This is won. It is a matter of weeks or months," Collboni explains.

On the other hand, the comprehensive rehabilitation project for the premises and storage rooms, as well as the new urbanization of the Dic de Recer space, which is also integrated into the pillar of boosting the blue economy, is in the process of being awarded. In these new rehabilitated spaces, the rest of the economic activities will be located, and in the central part of the dike, the storage rooms will provide storage service to the berth holders.