This work will give the municipality a new vision of the town by allowing greater sustainable mobility between its settlements
Work will begin this week on the first phase of the pedestrian path between Manilva and Sabinillas. The project, not counting the failed attempts stretching back over recent decades, began six years ago with the arrival of Mario Jiménez as mayor, who set the link between Manilva and Sabinillas as one of his first objectives.
The first phase of the pedestrian path will cost €1,101,100 to build and will take a little over three months, as the company awarded the contract for this vital project for the municipality has proposed a reduction of 21 days in the construction period. During this time, vehicles will be able to continue using the road, and the necessary safety measures will be put in place.
The section covered by Phase 1 runs along the «east» side, with a total length of 1,060 linear metres, approximately half of the route. It will be 3 metres wide, which, with the safety and lighting elements, will leave 2.5 metres of clear passage. As for the surface, it will initially be sprayed concrete.
According to the project itself, this work addresses the following issues: improving pedestrian access from the urban area of Manilva to the coastal district of San Luis de Sabinillas, removing the architectural barrier posed by the A-377 road, which has no sections suited to pedestrian traffic. It also incorporates solutions in line with universal accessibility criteria and adapts the access points to neighbouring plots and secondary roads, providing safe pedestrian access. Street lighting will also be installed in the work areas, and the boundary with the road will have the necessary installations to protect pedestrians.
The project began six years ago, when Manilva Town Hall commissioned the Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Costa del Sol Occidental to draw up a project for a pedestrian path linking Manilva and Sabinillas along the A-357 road, which at the time was owned by the Junta de Andalucía.
«This work has been an example of collaboration between administrations. We have secured the Mancomunidad de Municipios’s drafting of the necessary projects and technical documents, and it will also act as technical manager of the work. For its part, the Diputación Provincial de Málaga, through its pedestrian paths programme, will provide the funding needed to carry out this project, while the Junta de Andalucía, after lengthy negotiations, transferred the route of the road to Manilva Town Hall so that this project could go ahead», said the mayor, Mario Jiménez.
However, throughout this project, we must not forget the large number of agreements and solutions reached with the 17 affected families, with whom negotiations were held without having to resort to expropriation proceedings, which would have delayed the project even further.
«We must thank the local residents for their cooperation, which has undoubtedly made it possible to complete this process, but it should also be noted that the Town Hall has been very sensitive to each owner’s use of their land, in order to adapt this path to everyone’s needs and ensure that the properties are improved by this municipal work».
This first phase will affect the section between the Sabinillas roundabout and the junction near Manilva Green. The second phase of the project will run from that same junction to the urban centre of Manilva, and a third phase will be the downhill verge, which will be much easier to build as the land is level and there is enough space to create the path.
Following the bureaucratic procedures this project has required, Manilva Town Hall will finally be able to build a pedestrian path, guaranteeing reliable access for people who walk along this stretch of road every day, where there is not enough room for pedestrians and their safety is clearly at risk.
The aim is to offer the chance to travel along this road in complete safety, whether on foot or by bicycle, and to build a pleasant walkway allowing sustainable mobility by removing the need to use a car. The opening of this pedestrian path is also of tourist and scenic interest for the municipality.
Work on this public project is due to start this very week and, through a relatively small investment, will bring an improvement that will permanently transform the look of the municipality, bringing the town and its residents together and making it friendlier, easier to get around and more sustainable.
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