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The Mediterranean resort is shipping in 80,000
cubic meters of white sand - enough to fill 32 Olympic swimming
pools - to widen the beach along a 1.4 kilometer (0.9 mile)
stretch of seafront beside the famed "Croisette" promenade.
From Brigitte Bardot in the 1950s to Nicole Kidman and Leonardo
DiCaprio in more recent years, the Croisette's fine sands,
glitzy hotels and gourmet restaurants have hosted film's biggest
stars during the annual festival.
By the time of this year's event in May, the expanded stretch of
sand should be in place and for private beach managers means
more room to make money.
"We had a strip of sand which was about 20 meters wide, now
we'll get an extra 10 to 12 meters," said Bruno Richard, manager
of the privately owned Long Beach, where a sunlounger costs 25
euros ($31) for the day.
More than half the sand is arriving by boat from a quarry in the
neighboring Var region. Mixed with sea water, the sand is pumped
via a floating pipe onto the beach, where bulldozers shape the
new waterfront.
Locals are divided over the development. While some applaud a
bigger public beach, others fret it may be a waste of tax
payers' money.
"What worries me is whether the sea will just take it all back.
It cost the town a lot of money," said resident Gerard Rollandin.
($1 = 0.8046 euros)
(Reporting by Michel Bernouin; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing
by Susan Fenton)
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