The maritime front of Puerto Naos, the main tourist engine of the western side of La Palma, faces a critical structural transformation following the socioeconomic and territorial impact of the Tajogaite volcanic eruption in 2021. **Civil engineering** undertakes the challenge of stabilizing a hostile geological environment heavily conditioned by seismic activity, persistent emissions of toxic gases, and the erosive dynamics of a coastline highly exposed to Atlantic swells. The technical specifications of the coastal promenade protection project, drafted by the GIUR study under the guidelines of the Structural Code and state seismic-resistant regulations, delineate the conditions for public works contracts necessary to reconstruct the region’s infrastructure. The framework of the western sector of La Palma is defined by a **quaternary volcanic geology** of scoriaceous basalt flows and ash layers that shape the coastal cliffs over 300 meters high. Puerto Naos and El Remo sit on a low island formed by lavas that historically gained land from the sea, a site where submerged continental shelves are extremely limited and sediment drift concentrates along the coastline. The execution of the first phase of the promenade requires the construction of **retaining structures** capable of resisting earth pushes and the impacts of waves, utilizing gravity walls of mass concrete with a maximum height of 7.50 meters combined with facing masonry. The contractual specifications for bidding companies impose strict **calculation requirements** based on the methodology of the Technical Institute of Materials and Construction (INTEMAC) and the Technical Building Code (CTE). The sizing hypotheses are based on a terrain classified as T-1 (favorable and of low variability), with an estimated allowable stress of 0.4 MPa and excavations planned through heavy mechanical means such as crawler tractors (dozer-ripper) and mechanical chiseling. The awarded construction companies must certify the **structural stability** against Ultimate Limit States (ULS) of sliding and overturning, applying classical Coulomb theories for the active thrust of the backfill basalt and completely disregarding the stabilizing effect of passive thrust against possible landslides of the structure. The design of the wall type includes a **base slab** of 1.50 meters in height upon which rises a backfill of 6 meters, with a crown of 1.20 meters and mass concrete fixed at 24 kN/m³. To mitigate the erosive effects of marine waves on the intrados of the structure, contracts require deepening the foundation and adapting fills with the minimum classification of soils selected according to the road standards of the general specification PG-3. The permanent actions of its own weight and accidental seismicity prevail in structural calculation formulas, while the effects of wind are disregarded due to their irrelevance to the type of work. The commercial and financial viability of these public contracts remains inseparably linked to the **housing and health emergency** scenario of the Valle de Aridane region. Almost five years after the eruptive process ended in December 2021, dangerous concentrations of carbon dioxide keep the island’s main tourist hub closed, which contains more than 5,000 unusable accommodation places and its largest hotel complex of 1,300 beds completely empty. The commercial paralysis affects around a thousand direct workers and has caused severe demographic displacement to other regions of the Canary archipelago, harming business profit margins and local consumption. Public investment in the promenade aims to anticipate the definitive reopening of the locality as environmental risks in the subsoil diminish. The Commissioner for the Reconstruction of La Palma coordinates parallel plans that include forced ventilation systems for extracting CO₂ and injecting clean air into the basements of Puerto Naos and La Bombilla, along with the establishment of a Continuous Gas Monitoring Center. The public civil works contracts for the maritime front are part of the roadmap intended to recover the appeal of the busiest black sand beach in the west of the island, a key project for reconfiguring the island’s development model in response to the aging population and the decline of agricultural operations buried by lava flows.
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