Expropriate the Los Huertos parking lot or buy the CAM headquarters: the other investments in the Orihuela budgets

Rehabilitation of the Oriol and CRIS Center in El Palmeral, construction of a pedestrian walkway over the AP-7 in Lomas de Cabo Roig and a new drinking water tank in Orihuela Costa. These were the three investments that the mayor, Pepe Vegara, indicated as priorities in his budget project for 2024. During the presentation of the accounts last Friday, another series of investments were also pointed out without being broken down and that would be less urgent. LA VERDAD has had access to the fine print of chapter six of the accounts and these include many other dozens of projects that are encrypted and have a common denominator: they all depend on external bank financing and, therefore, are endowed with zero euros from of the Consistory's own resources. Thus a long etcetera until reaching that total announced by the government team: 40,933,211.67 euros in investments.

Among all those expenses contained in the annex to chapter 6, the most expensive is precisely the new drinking water tank in Orihuela Costa, valued at 2.8 million euros. But there are other equally million-dollar investments that are also accounted for. For example, there is another slightly lower item, of 2.7 million, for the reorganization of roads and public spaces in the historic center. Already below 2 million would be the renovation works of the building that occupied the Oriol Center and that was destroyed in Dana (1.5 million), the second phase of the construction of the Orihuela Costa Security and Emergency Center by ( 1.1 million) or the construction of the pedestrian walkway over the AP-7 (1.3 million)

The masks

The municipal contribution to the work corresponding to the reorganization of José Ávila Street and Duke of Tamames Avenue also amounts to 1.3 million, financed 45% with funds from the Provincial Council's Plan Plan. Another investment of one million euros is also planned to replace trees and palm trees in Orihuela Costa, 1.1 million for the Civic Center and auditorium of Orihuela Costa, one million for the development of the Los Huertos parking lot, another million for the expropriation of land for the Sports City and a final million for the acquisition of street furniture and beach access walkways.

All these investments, as the mayor himself acknowledged, do not mean that they will be executed this year, something almost impossible considering that the budgets will have final approval in May. Those investments that remain to be made will foreseeably be included in the 2025 budget, on which the Vegara cabinet says it is already working.

Interventions in the Castle

The document also includes striking investments such as the rehabilitation and conditioning of the Orihuela castle wall and other defensive elements. The action is estimated at 465,000 euros but, as the same text also reflects, it is pending the granting of a 2% cultural subsidy, which would reduce the municipal contribution to 340,000 euros. The power point presentation that was distributed after the presentation of the accounts included images of some of the areas that are indicated as requiring urgent action in the Castle's Master Plan. These are the cases of the defensive remains of Torreta Street or the Embergoñes tower itself. This voluminous allocation is also complemented by 85,000 euros for the conditioning of the medieval access road to the Castle and 160,000 euros for the lighting of the canvas of the Levante wall.

In the same investment chapter, the rehabilitation of the Caja de Monserrate, already underway, is also complemented with another 121,846 euros and the rehabilitation of the Rubalcaba Palace with another 149,208 euros. The mayor of Heritage, Matías Ruiz, also complies with what was expressed in full and includes 1.5 million for the rehabilitation of the Regional Archaeological Museum of Orihuela, which has been closed since its high deterioration last year forced La Diablesa to be moved from this space museum to the hall of the Town Hall. The previous PSOE-Cs government team also lost a subsidy from the Generalitat to carry out the work.

600,000 euros for the Cabo Roig walk

Outside of the strictly historical heritage, the City Council plans to increase its catalog of real estate assets. The investment annex reflects new acquisitions. The first and already announced is the closed section of the Cabo Roig promenade. The government team budgets 600,000 euros as the maximum amount planned for the acquisition of the land for which the residents of the Bellavista urbanization have demanded a just price of 1.2 million from the City Council. Given the disparity of the figures, the government team already assumes that it must be the Expropriations Court that decides the price of those few square meters with which the City Council wants to facilitate transit for residents and bathers between Cabo Roig and Aguamarina, which now They have to make a huge detour to go to the beach.

Half a million euros are also allocated to the acquisition of plots with different uses to improve the historic center of Orihuela. Specifically, the government team is already considering a series of plots that it has offered to the Generalitat for the construction of public housing and that are located on López Pozas, Barrio Nuevo, Adolfo Clavarana, and Doctor Sarget streets.

Among these new purchases there are also other less known ones. Thus, there are two million that the City Council plans to invest in the acquisition of the former headquarters of the defunct CAM. This building, now owned by the Mediterranean Foundation and with its ground floor occupied by Banco Sabadell, was the provisional headquarters of the City Council until last year while the Marquis of Arneva Palace was under construction.

The previous PSOE-Cs government team renounced incorporating this property into municipal assets after it terminated the rental contract, which contemplated precisely that purchase option. The acquisition of this emblematic building next to the Puente Nuevo is an old demand championed by the former Heritage Councilor, Rafael Almagro, during the government of former mayor Emilio Bascuñana. The PP has always appreciated in this building a possibility of covering the existing need in the city to have an auditorium and exhibition hall that is currently not available due to the Men's Room of the Archaeological Museum being closed and due to the limitations it presents. in many cases La Lonja.

Strategic deterrent

Less well known is also the intention declared in this chapter of the budgets to acquire the Los Huertos parking lot by expropriation. This facility is currently being partly rented by the City Council. The extensive esplanade has been divided into two parts since one of the owners decided to terminate the lease contract with the City Council. In fact, she has put up a 'For Rent' sign. It is a strategic space within the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, where it is designated as one of the deterrents called to calm traffic in the city center. Furthermore, it is a highly demanded space, not only as a parking lot, but also for the installation of markets and as a fairground.

Pepe Vegara pointed out that one of the priorities that was set with these accounts was to settle the outstanding debt of the 2019 participatory budgets. In this sense, the last of the expropriations that the government team wants to face is located in the Montepinar urbanization. There the neighbors voted to create a new green area on private land. A new infrastructure that they have been demanding in vain for five years.

New garbage trucks

In the Waste area, investments have been included that, during the past year, were expected to be addressed with remainders, such as the acquisition of new trucks and transport vans for 350,000 euros and new blowers and sweepers for 450,000 euros.

In addition, improvements are contemplated in one of the latest facilities that the government team is close to opening, which is the new MSW work center on the coast. The councilor Rocío Ortuño's area wants to equip these new offices with security cameras (30,000 euros) and solar panels (120,000 euros).

In the Citizen Security section, numerous investments are also contemplated for Local Police agents. The two largest items are 600,000 euros to install sustainable traffic lights and 300,000 euros for security cameras on the streets. Two investments that are complemented by 20,000 euros for the repair of the shooting gallery, 3,500 for the installation of air conditioning, 25,000 to purchase a vehicle, 30,000 for a jet ski, 15,000 for the facilities of a future canine unit, 5,000 for a gym, 30,000 for walkie talkie equipment, 100,000 for the road safety park and 41,000 for traffic signal supplies.

In Sports, the main investment planned is the execution of the second phase of the Molins sports area, valued at 450,000 euros, and the enclosure works and installation of pavement on the track of the Las Espeñetas sports center for 351,000 euros.

Vox areas

The majority of investments are, therefore, framed in large councils such as Infrastructure and Heritage, which are the ones with the greatest number of projects and the highest cost. Appropriately smaller amounts than those assigned to other areas such as Health, Agriculture or Industry. Also regarding the areas that depend on Vox. The council of the vice mayor, Manuel Mestre, although the coast benefits from investments framed in other councils, only three investments are listed in the name of its own area: one million euros in the acquisition of street furniture and beach access walkways, 250,000 euros for the acquisition of three new elevators for access by people with reduced mobility and 440,000 euros for public toilet modules on promenades and areas adjacent to the beaches.

The Department of Culture, for its part, will only have 470,000 euros of investment that will be allocated to replacements in buildings such as the Teatro Circo, La Lonja and the Museum of the Reconquista. Citizen Participation also takes 20,000 euros for the adaptation of the civic center of the Monserrate neighborhood, another of the projects that were chosen in the 2019 participatory budgets. No trace, however, of the repair of the Ramón de Campoamor civic center, whose project is being drafted.