The APB is planning a redevelopment of Portitxol in the port of Palma aimed at opening up the inner harbour to the city, while preserving the neighbourhood's working-class and seafaring character
29/08/2025The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) presented yesterday, together with Palma City Council, the Portitxol redevelopment project,an initiative that seeks to open up this strategic location between the port and the city and transform its seafront into a more integrated, accessible and sustainable space. The proposal involves freeing up 4,300 square metres for public use, gaining 5,500 square metres of green areas, eliminating architectural barriers that impede access to and view of the sea, improving urban mobility for residents, optimising port uses and strengthening the connection between the quay and the neighbourhood.APB Chairman Javier Sanz, together with its director, Toni Ginard, and the councillor for Tourism, Culture, Sports and Municipal Coordination, Javier Bonet, yesterday presented the redevelopment project to representatives of the harbour's neighbourhood associations at a meeting in the Can Salas building, known as sa Petrolera. According to Sanz, "from a closed and overburdened space, we will move on to an open, planned and sustainable area, which will provide more quality of life, more city and more sea for everyone". "With these measures, the Portitxol will no longer be a barrier and will become a lively and accessible space, which will place people at the heart of things," he concluded.One of the most interesting actions of the project is the redesign of the promenade and the intervention at the na Bàrbara river mouth. The project envisages the elimination of the current height difference of about four metres between the promenade and the docks, as well as the improvement of accessibility throughout the urban space. Architectural barriers will be removed to provide more than 4,300 square metres of open space for public use.The new configuration envisages the harmonious coexistence of the neighbourhood's residents with the compatibility of other existing uses, such as restaurants, shops, port facilities and public recreation. Thus, while new spaces are being created to encourage socialising, relaxation and outdoor enjoyment by the general public, a surface car park is being created for residents, Calle de la Sirena is being pedestrianised and the accesses to road traffic are being reorganised, prioritising the needs of residents and pedestrian traffic.The redeployment of these port uses will allow the creation of a large public square facing the sea, as well as the construction of an underground car park, replacing areas currently occupied by road traffic, and the dry marina with 5,500 square metres of green areas or areas for recreational use.Renovating the portThe proposal also involves an ambitious intervention in the port area, renewing infrastructures, reorganising water sport uses and services, optimising underused spaces and creating new berths for small vessels.Thus, the current sailing school run by the Club Nàutic Portitxol (Portixol Sailing Club) will move to the fishermen's wharf, while the dry dock and the dry marina will occupy the Troneras area. Both the Troneras and Sa Roqueta areas currently have an inefficient layout and a lack of basic services, which will be remedied with the installation of a fuel service station for boats and the optimisation of the water area to meet the demand for affordable moorings.The symbiosis between public and port uses will have a new landmark with the construction of a treadableroof attached to the breakwater of the outer sea wall of Troneras. Under this deck, new spaces will be created for port facilities such as warehouses, storerooms and workshops. This solution will be similar to the one implemented a few years ago with great success in the neighbouring port of Molinar, which has a viewpoint overlooking the sea that has been very popular with local residents and walkers.A port within the portEl Portitxol, located at the eastern end of the port of Palma, is today a small artificial dock used for mooring small boats. It is very popular with Palma's residents as a place for strolling, leisure and contact with the sea and the open air, as well as with marine sports users, due to the affordability and comfort of its mooring points.Its origins as a natural inlet at the na Bàrbara river mouth as a shelter for boats can be traced back to the end of prehistoric times and it was used as a trading hub by several later civilisations, such as the Romans, Phoenicians, Byzantines and Carthaginians, among others. In the 18th century, the Molinar neighbourhood emerged from the fishermen's houses and summer homes that were established in the area and around the mills that were built on the coast.But it was in the 19th and early 20th centuries that the area grew considerably with the emergence of gas, oil and electricity industries, which turned it into a working-class neighbourhood with a strong trade union and political character. Today it forms part of the public port domain assigned to the APB, used to manage moorings for seagoing vessels, most of which are less than eight metres in length, 460 of them directly and 301 through the Club Nàutic Portitxol.
