A punch in the stomach. Moreover. A scar in the heart of the Tavolara-Punta Coda Cavallo protected marine area. A gigantic gazebo in tubular steel, over 10 meters high, at least 50 long and about thirty wide, appeared overnight in the small Eden of Cala Finanza, a corner of the coast of Loiri Porto San Paolo, south of Olbia and of the golden Costa Smeralda.
The structure, closed facing the sea with a glass window overlooking the park islands of Tavolara, Molara and Cavalli, and isolated on the other sides with white panels, was assembled in support of the exclusive estate of Villa Joy – a residence for billionaires immersed in the Mediterranean scrub with a manor house, two outbuildings, tennis court, heliport area, pier and two private beaches – rented to celebrate the wedding of Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, heir to the throne of Jordan, with the descendant of the Saudi royal family Rajwa Khaled bin Musaed bin Saif bib Abduklaziz Al Saif.
Doubts about the legitimacy of the mega gazebo were raised by the environmentalists of the Legal Intervention Group, who filed a request for access to the documents to the Municipality and Superintendence, and also sent a report to the police and the Tempio Pausania Public Prosecutor’s Office. «I am always fascinated by how local authorities are surprised by the rise of certain structures in restricted areas. For our part, we want to understand if the necessary environmental checks have been carried out», comments the spokesman of the association Stefano Deliperi. “In the area where the princely gazebo was built – he explains – the laws in force establish a landscape constraint and a specific integral conservation constraint to protect the 300-meter strip from the seashore”.
This morning, after a reminder from the ecologists and an article on the front page of the Corriere della Sera, the Municipal agents made an inspection of Villa Joy, to check for any abuses. «The technical office of the Municipality and the local police had already been informed but only of the marriage – explains the mayor of Loiri Francesco Lai -. The only authorization requested concerned the occupation of public land in order to use a nearby car park, but it was denied because the area is available to citizens. We are now awaiting the results of the investigations carried out because it would seem that for temporary structures of this type, we have ascertained that there is not an inch of concrete, there is no need for authorisations. I can certainly say that we will be compliant so that the structure is removed immediately after the event ”, assures the mayor.
Above all, the environmentalists of the Grig will be vigilant, who have no intention of letting their guard down. «On Tavolara we have already underway, as a civil party, a process for a building abuse on the island, which we reported – Deliperi recalls – If it is the case, this time too we are ready to take the legal steps necessary to enforce the rules that protect the environment”.
