To have beaches in perfect condition, there has to be hard work of maintenance and conservation that is carried out, especially in winter. The Mijas Town Hall spent 1.5 million euros, last year, on these tasks. This period was marked by two storms. Filomena destroyed the coast, and last November storm tore up three coastal path sections and the presence of algae. This was stated by the First Deputy Mayor and The Beaches Councillor, José Carlos Martín (Cs), who took stock of the work carried out in 2021. "It has been a hard year. We had to take specific actions due to the storms, and above all, it was a year plagued by the appearance of algae on the beaches. This has meant that the Department has had to allocate almost 1.5 million euros," explained Martín.

These works are being carried out by the Beaches' Department. They maintain the Coastal Path platforms, the walkways and all kinds of equipment. Also, actions to remove weeds and earthworks to level the sand are carried out. "The permanent Beaches team that works in winter is of eight people," said the Councillor, who explained that a carpentry team is dedicated to the Coastal Path exclusively, a masonry team and machinery personnel. "We also have that cross-cutting support that, sometimes, other areas of the Town Hall give us, such as the Operational Services and Mijas Complementary Services through the Renta Básica programme. The aim is to keep the beaches in perfect state, bearing in mind that this is one of our most important tourist attractions," added Martín, who is also Tourism and Operational Services Councillor.

Among the main items, the First Deputy Mayor highlighted 400,000 euros for weeds collection machinery and debris, due to the storms and earthworks for the homogenisation of the beaches, for the summer season. 200,000 euros,  was the fee paid for the removal of the invasive algae 'Rugulopteryx Okamurae' to the recycling plant: "I want to say that, last summer, the Beaches team started work at three o'clock in the morning, to have our beaches perfectly clean of algae at the start of the bathing hours; later, in the afternoon and evening, we had algae again, and we started all over again. This enormous amount of work is worth it because when tourists come to our beaches, they see them in perfect condition," Martín stressed. 
Also, included are larger works such as those now being carried out on the Senda Litoral to repair the damage caused by the November storm in the areas of Doña Lola, Calahonda Beach, and Océano Beach. "For these works, we have allocated 280,000 euros, as this is a major project. Actions taken such as the decking removal and foundations damaged at some points that have to be built from scratch, are some examples".

Quality beaches
The rest of the amount corresponds to the supply of materials and services that underlie the actions referred to the high season preparation of the beaches. Ready to validate the Q for Quality, the blue flags, and other marks of excellence of the Mijas beaches. "The beach's maintenance has a double aspect, on the one hand, they are in perfect condition and, on the other hand, to validate those recognitions that we get for the quality of services and the state of our beaches," said the Councillor.

 

In this regard, it should be noted that the Mijas Beaches Department has been innovating every year to improve the coastline in all aspects. Apart from the quality that justifies the nine Q Quality flags, the three Blue flags, the ISO 14001, the 'Safe Tourism Certified' seal against the coronavirus and the four Universal Accessibility beaches, the City Council has implemented a security and prevention measure in the province. In the high season, beaches' capacity can be controlled by drones and checked on the municipal website.  This measure will avoid high occupation beaches' rates so that there is no overcrowding. The hydroalcoholic gel was present in the coastline, an exclusive area for the elderly, bathrooms cleaning after use, or interpersonal space controllers. These actions made possible "a safe beach guarantee", with which Mijas was awarded the Andalusia Segura seal (The Andalusia safe seal).

In addition to all this, a Lifeguard and Rescue service has been officially awarded for its work, as well as another drone, this time a larger one, which has been the protagonist, the last summer season, working as a 'lifeguard'. "We have beaches with water quality, without overcrowding, with nearby services, four of them with universal accessibility, clean and safe against COVID-19," concluded Martin, who was optimistic about the arrival of tourists at Easter.
 

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