Le Figaro Nice
The controversy around "Canua Island", a nomadic floating island project in the Gulf of Napoule, off Mandelieu (Alpes-Maritimes), continues.
Questioned on March 14 by the President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Region, Renaud Muselier, a fierce opponent of this XXL trimaran, the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu answered him on Friday.
“This project arouses a circumspection to which I subscribe
,” writes the tenant of the Hôtel de Roquelaure in a letter obtained by
Le Figaro
.
Paragraph after paragraph, we understand that the minister, on behalf of the government, is unfavorable to this barge in the Mediterranean Sea.
Read also“Devoid of common sense”: on the Côte d’Azur, the Canua Island floating island project in troubled waters
"You rightly raise the question of the compatibility of this project with the sensitivity of the marine ecosystem and the protection of the environment and biodiversity"
, introduces Christophe Béchu in response to Renaud Muselier's remarks.
The president of the Paca region had castigated
"a project devoid of common sense"
and explained
"his total opposition"
.
The Minister's response goes in his direction:
"The analyzes carried out indicate that the project does not seem compatible with mooring to existing lockers and that the open mooring is not suitable, particularly from the point of view of the protection of seagrass beds. posidonia”
, explains the minister.
"My services are very attentive to this file"
, he continues, announcing that
“all the local actors will be called upon to express themselves on this occasion”
.
The analyzes carried out indicate that the project does not seem compatible with mooring to existing lockers and that the open anchorage is not suitable.
Christophe Bechu
The two designers, supported by the mayor of Mandelieu, Sébastien Leroy, had planned to inaugurate their floating island at the end of April.
Everything was almost ready.
With this new twist, there's little doubt it will be delayed at best.
"The government has clearly positioned itself unfavorably to the development in the territorial sea of private commercial activities, and in particular hotels and restaurants"
, insists the minister in the missive, relying on the new article 40-3 resulting from the law of March 10, 2023 against
"artificial islands"
.
The article indicates that only those
“intended for the production of renewable energy or necessary for the exercise of a public service mission can be established”
.
It is therefore a new contrary current launched against "Canua Island", after the missive of the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, who at the end of March opposed the reception of the trimaran on its coast and relied on the first Minister Elisabeth Borne.
Even if Christophe Béchu does not definitively bury the project since he indicates that
"the competent State services will be mobilized to ensure compatibility"
in the marine environment, he mentions at the end of his letter the law which could ban it.
“This provision supported by the government is intended to prevent the appearance of floating structure projects with indefinite status
,” he writes.
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