The restoration of the Guadalmedina in Malaga will allow walking from the Center to the Mountains or the Botanical Garden Malaga boasts a business network
Walking from Armiñán to the Montes de Málaga or the Jardín Botánico de la Concepción will be a reality within a year and a half. The Board and the Malaga City Council have signed an agreement that proceeds with the restoration and urban integration of the Guadalmedina River. This agreement lays the foundations for collaboration between both administrations to create an integrated river space in the city.
The improvement of the environmental value of the urban section of the river is contemplated, reducing the risk of damage to avenues and favoring an orderly, safe and sustainable use of the river environment to allow a better integration of the riverbed in the city. Together with the connections made to the El Limonero dam and reservoir, these works will cost 7.6 million euros to be paid for by the Andalusian Government and 2 million euros by the Malaga City Council.
The works have already begun in the urban environment of the riverbed and are expected to finish within a year and a half, with which citizens could enjoy them in the summer of 2023, as announced by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, Carmen Crespo; together with the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, and Elías Bendodo, Minister of the Presidency, Public Administration and the Interior.
The action protocol signed by both institutions and which does not entail specific economic or legal commitments is developed in several different scenarios, which may be developed simultaneously. The first of these is the adaptation of the operating rules and the increase in the ecological flows of the El Limonero dam and reservoir. The maximum level of the reservoir will be reduced to have a greater free volume capable of storing water in flood situations. In addition, the minimum drained flows will be increased to favor environmental restoration. This, in the words of Crespo, will mean the completion of 27 kilometers of lanes available to the people of Malaga.
At the same time, it is proposed to give continuity to the forest park, so that the existing road network is improved and the existing road network and vegetation are improved, with the elimination of invasive species. It will be carried out on an area equivalent to 350 soccer fields and 5 million euros will be invested by the Andalusian Government.
The second, the hydrological-forest restoration in the tributary streams of the urban section of the Guadalmedina. In this area, above the Armiñán bridge, the Junta de Andalucía will undertake the hydromorphological restoration of the two banks of the river, so that, for 5.1 kilometers, the bank will be adapted to allow safe and orderly transit by the citizenship. This pedestrian crossing will eliminate obstacles and involves the planting of trees on the outer bank of the channeling for the renaturalization of the river. The bike lanes are already planned on the outside of the channel. For this, the Junta de Andalucía allocates 2.6 million euros.
The City Council complements this contribution with 1.8 million euros in the installation of lighting –lampposts with solar panels, the mayor has detailed– and the irrigation system, whose maintenance will mean 300,000 euros a year. In addition, a connection will be made on the left bank with the La Concepción Botanical Garden, by means of a walkway similar to that of the Guadalhorce, but smaller in size.
Avelino Barrionuevo, councilor of the Ciudad Jardín district, assures that if before Pier 1 people lived with their backs to the sea and now the center faces the Bay, for his district this is the first step for the district to look at the Guadalmedina. "It will be the 'highway' of Ciudad Jardín, being able to get to the center on foot or by bike along the river promenade will give it life," says Barrionuevo.
The actions under the Armiñán bridge, being the most complicated between this and the Aurora bridge, as detailed by the mayor, are being studied in the Guadalmedina Special Plan, which is currently being drawn up.
