The Formentera Fire Department has acquired 15 new units of personal protective equipment (PPE) to expand and update the fire prevention and firefighting service wardrobe. According to Councillor of Interior Josep Marí, "this new equipment is about enhancing firefighters' safety when they respond in cases of fire".

The category-3 PPE protect against life-threatening hazards and those that can seriously affect health, and are made of light but resistant flame retardant fabric. Incorporating fibre blends offering intense thermal protection with high levels of comfort and durability, the material used in manufacture stays strong and flexible after exposure to flames. Each unit includes trousers, a jacket, harness, stitched ring dagger and two safety carabiners.

The fifteen units were purchased for €27,975 + VAT, a price which includes a two-year service warranty. Currently the Formentera Fire Department has ten firefighters on staff.

23 November 2021
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

Consell de Formentera President Ana Juan, Vice President and Councillor of Tourism Alejandra Ferrer, Councillor of Infrastructure Josep Marí and Department Technician Xico Ribas have met with residents of Es Pujols to review the planned upgrades and elimination of architectural barriers on Avinguda de Miramar and Carrer de s'Espalmador.

The €1.3 million project started this week and is due for completion on 1 May. Changes will affect the section of Avinguda de Miramar stretching from the access roundabout to the junction with Carrer de s'Espalmador. From there, work will continue along Carrer de s'Espalmador to the intersection of that street with Carrer des Fonoll Marí.

These two streets will be remodeled in accordance with mobility criteria in Es Pujols, namely, streets will be one-way with a single lane of traffic, and a new bike lane will run the length of the area. Beautification measures will include new street furniture and lighting, and sewerage and telephone infrastructure will upgraded as well.

Councillor Marí described the project as "in the same line as upgrades last winter in Es Pujols's centre". The goal, said Marí, is "aesthetic improvement; to make the town more pedestrian friendly and deliver a boost to the tourism sector".

5 November 2021
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Formentera Office of Infrastructure is pleased to report that next week crews will begin building the road that will service the island's long-term care facility and improve access to the local hub of health and social services, part of a €901,796 project that is scheduled to take five months.

The upgrades will mean creation of a one-way road linking Carrer del Metge Vicent Riera Ferrer (access road to the hospital) with the road leading to the cemetery. Crews will also urbanise and beautify the area, not to mention put in new pedestrian walkways and street furniture, a bus stop and 28 parking spaces for cars and others for bicycles.

Consell de Formentera president Alejandra Ferrer expressed her satisfaction "because soon the access road to the care home will be a reality", and assured that "in the meantime, the final steps are being taken to open it". "It is only fair that we can provide Formentera's elderly and dependent people with this service, so that if they need it, they don't have to leave the island."

Infrastructure councillor Josep Marí said that additional work would entail urbanising areas near the nursing facility and adult day care centre based on integrated models of landscaping. Marí, too, affirmed that the move marked a quantum leap forward for the accessibility of the island's health and social services hub.

Formentera's health and social services hub includes the hospital, nursing facility, funeral parlour (Tanatori), cemetery and adult day centre (Centre de Dia). Work will be conducted by Matias Arrom Bibiloni SL.

14 October 2021
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera

The Consell de Formentera is pleased to report that crews will start work today on a third undersea cable between Eivissa’s Torrent substation and the substation in Es Ca Marí, part of a bid to improve coverage on Formentera's power grid. According to the national electricity grid operator, the new line, together with two built-in 132 kilovolt (kV) connectors, won’t just make it possible to meet consumption needs safely and stably, it will also deliver a boost to the green energy transition in the Balearics.

Work related to the €96m infrastructure project, including construction of a pipeline to house the cable, is expected to take six months. "It's one of the largest investments ever made in the history of our island", explained President Alejandra Ferrer, who said she hoped it would solve noise issues that residents in the area have endured “for too many years". And she went further still, assuring that the roadmap for Formentera was to "continue promoting renewable energies" and work to set "a timetable for decarbonisation of the power plant".

The line will leave the Eivissa shoreline at Talamanca and run 27.15 kilometres at a maximum depth of 62 metres below the water’s surface. The underwater cable will not affect Ses Salines Natural Reserve, added Ferrer, who pointed out that decision-making about the route of the line had involved consensus with local government, and that the goal was “to avoid damaging posidonia meadows”.

Construction updates

On Eivissa the works will cover a 5.26-km swath of land between Torrent and Talamanca. On Formentera the affected area will span 4.8 km, stretching from Es Carnatge to the PM-820, following alongside the highway in a straight line to Es Ca Marí before doglegging over to the substation. The cable will run underground and cut mainly across public land. Though some partial road closures will be required, the only area completely closed to vehicle traffic will be at the line’s arrival at Es Ca Marí. Complete information on the progress of the works and associated road closures can be found in a dedicated section of the Formentera Office of Infrastructure website.

Last Monday 11 October, project engineers from Red Eléctrica de España offered local political party representatives an overview of plans for the third power line.

13 October 2021
Communications Office
Consell de Formentera