Project for El Prat airport expansion finally foresees a runway at La Ricarda

BarcelonaFor months there have been suspicions that the project to expand El Prat airport could affect the protected natural area of the Ricarda, an area of thick, dense reeds, pine forests and lush coastal vegetation within the Xarxa Natura 2000 area, and this Friday it has been confirmed. The Aena draft that the Spanish government has on the table - and that has the initial support of the Generalitat - plans to expand one of the airport runways precisely on these lands.

"Now they are saying it clearly, in black and white: 'We're going to kill the Ricarda'," confirmed the mayor of El Prat de Llobregat, Lluís Mijoler, who explained that, according to the document presented to them this Friday by the Ministry of Transport, the Spanish government assumes that it will have to obtain permission from Europe to build the third runway at El Prat and that it will have to compensate those affected.

Mijoler believes that there is still "room for maneuver" and ensures that from the consistory they will make all the "political pressure and legal actions necessary" to save the lagoon.