[ad_1]
Plans for a floating party “island” anchored off the French Riviera have been dropped amid a row over environmental concerns.
Canua Island – a 1,750 sq metre platform on a motorised trimaran designed to look like a giant floating bar – was set to open this summer 600 metres off France’s Mediterranean coast. Instead, it remains moored at the port of La Seyne-sur-Mer while awaiting permits amid a growing row among local politicians in the south of France and environmental groups.
Fitted with a restaurant, bar lounge and freshwater pool and decked out with giant sun-loungers and potted plants, the “island” has been designed to accommodate up to 350 guests, who would be brought from the mainland by speedboat or arrive via yacht.
The massive floating bar has been the focus of concern over the environmental impact of party projects along the southern coast, which is already built-up with beach bars and hotels. Environmental groups gathered a petition of 20,000 signatures to stop its launch.
Organisers were told this week that the necessary permits to operate had been denied by the government.
The French ministry of the sea told AFP: “The government’s position is that the development of an artificial island is not compatible with the need to strengthen marine environmental protections.”
The ministry explained that new legislation aimed at accelerating renewable energy development had strict rules about installing any floating infrastructure at sea.
“Commercial artificialisation of the maritime landscape, on a coast that is already highly urbanised, in a sea plagued by pollution, is therefore not part of logical and political ecologic policy,” the ministry said.
The organisers of the Canua project, who had reportedly raised investment of approximately €16m and had been planning the project for seven years, expressed their frustration, saying they had respected environmental norms but had become caught up in politics.
“It was made clear to us that we should not wait for this summer,” the project’s founders said in a statement, claiming to be “victims of a political vendetta”.
The statement said: “This obstruction and political aberration, this denial of rights, leads us to take responsibility for the consequences of the situation and forces us to put an end the contracts of those who trusted us.” About 100 employees, from mechanics to bar staff, were told they were being let go.
The project had the support from the mayor of one commune in the area, Mandelieu-La Napoule, where it intended to anchor, but it was notably contested by the head of the broader Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region Renaud Muselier, a member of President Emmanuel Macron’s governing party. The regional authorities said the 100 former employees would be welcome to work in other bars and restaurants along the coast which were seeking staff.
[ad_2]
Source link
(This article is generated through the syndicated feed sources, Financetin neither support nor own any part of this article)
