Joan Gual de Torrella bets for the consensus in the management of the harbours of general interest
Palma de Mallorca
28/08/2015
The president of the Port Authority of Balearic Islands (PAB), Joan Gual de Torrella, is very knowledgeable about the institution, as he has participated in its Administrative Committee for seven years (2006-2013) as the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Majorca. In his first days at the forefront of the PAB he has answered the questions posed by the means of communications of the Balearic Islands regarding all that affecting the management of the harbours of general interest, like the traffic of cruisers, the port logistics, the works in the harbours or even the possible application of a tourist tax by the Government of the Balearic Islands. In all these cases, Joan Gual highlights the word “consensus” and the importance of keeping good relations with the Councils of the cities where the harbours of general interest lie. The harbour we want Gual’s main challenge as a president is, as he has noted, “thinking in the future of the harbours for the next generations”. In the case of Palma’s harbour, for example, the largest and busiest harbour of the islands, “we have to define the harbour we want for the next 30 years”, he has said. And, as previously stated, the new Council of Administration of the PAB considers it possible to undertake a rearrangement of uses and spaces without the need of extension. “The engineers of the house are working on it. If the space we have is rationalised, I think there is no need to expand the area”. The president of the PAB has highlighted in all the interviews the importance of the port management for the traffic of goods and people. He has been really explicit in his examples: “If the harbour failed, the supermarkets would be empty, the hospitals would not have oxygen and the providers of potable water would not have chlorine… this is rarely taken into account and often taken for granted. We would realise it if it failed, and we do not want it to happen”. Numbers are conclusive. 13 millions of goods and an average of 6,5 millions of passengers cross the harbours of the Balearic Islands every year. In fact, the harbours of the Balearic Islands have reached the second position in the market of cruisers in Spain and the fourth position in the Mediterranean market. Besides, the line of ferries between Eivissa and Formentera is the busiest Spanish line.
