The commitment of the Almeida team for the private management of the Muncipal sports centers is accumulating problems. The opening of the first public-private sports center to which he gave green light in his first mandate, a few days ago in four roads, has left a flood of citizen criticism due to problems with charged rates or areas still not available for the works.
“With the share of 48 euros you do not access half of the classes or the thermal zone,” regrets one of its users on social networks, among the dozens of negative comments with which this place has been received, the CDM four paths. The sports center opened without the operational pool and with the surprise for many that a good part of its directed activities entail an extra payment, something allowed in the specifications with which the City Council privatized its management to the company Sportrade. “Very bad manage and very bad that it has been privatized, I have two daughters, I do not have money left over and I signed them for the pool that has not arrived at the moment,” regrets another user.
This sports center opened with a delay of more than four years with respect to what is initially planned: its construction, which had been tendered in 2019 by the Government of Manuela Carmena, was fully annulled by the area of works as soon as Almeida arrives at Cibeles, with the aim of saving its construction cost to public coffers in exchange for 24 years of private management. At the opening, however, the mayor did not refer to these delays and flattered the company awarded by the new building that was launched.
The opening of four roads will be followed by CDM Ricardo Damas, awarded by the Consistory to the Forus company. It also goes late, since the City Council came to ensure that would be ready for 2023. The same municipal publication that announced the date assured that monthly fertilizers will be available there but also “daily use tickets, with access to all the services of the center: Sala de fitnessdirected activity and free swim. In this case, the cost would be 1.50 euros for older and five euros for adults. ” Although in the last privatizations it has not been so.
Although the aforementioned are the usual rates in the sports center managed directly by the City Council, in some of the private ones the sale of daily tickets has been banned. To CDM four roads, for example, can only be accessed with monthly fertilizer, as well as in other similar private management, such as the nearby Vallehermoso. There, its request for summer pool is only accessible to subscribers. And other complaints are produced, such as those of the elderly who fail to access the facilities at the price set by the Consistory for retirees, significantly lower than normal (14.25 euros per month compared to the usual 47.45).
Six deserted competitions and six in doubt
Another of the problems that the Almeida team is being found is the lack of companies that want to bet on their public-private model. The mayor promised more than a dozen new sports center at the end of his second term and the Vice mayor acknowledged a few days ago that they have to use the privatizations “because if we could not build the infrastructure that this city needs in a quick and adequate way.”
Immaculate Sanz recognized that “it would be materially impossible for all new spaces to be built at the same time, it would take many years from the public administration to build these new equipment,” he said in response to a question about the complaints recorded in four paths.
But this commitment to assignments to private companies for decades is finding many negatives when calling municipal management competitions. Of all tenders, only three have come to award: the two mentioned and another in the Paseo de la Direction of Tetuán, of which project is not yet known and the neighbors begin to doubt that it will be carried out. The rest have been deserted (up to six times) and another six are waiting for the City Council to find a formula that allows its construction.
“It is true that there are tenders that have been left without award, we have to reflect because of course our purpose is to continue implementing municipal sports centers where they are necessary,” admitted the mayor himself a few days ago to questions from this newspaper. “To make them in private public collaboration regime to us it seems to us that it is a reasonable solution, both for the City Council and for also the whole of society but it is true that we have to accept that reality,” he added about deserted tenders.
At the moment, the Almeida team has caught in one case: the project for the Las Rosas CDM, in San Blas, changed pool and gym to sports pavilion, after a first desert contest without offers of companies interested in its construction and management. The City Council has pledged to lift it and a few months ago put the first stone.
“We will alternate different models depending on the budget capacities that the Madrid City Council has,” admitted last week the vice mayor, Sanz Immaculate, on the cases where they study directly assume the works.
What will be those sports center? At the moment the fact is an unknown, although reviewing in the works tendered by the Consistory, it has recently hired the support for the drafting of the project for the work of a sports pavilion in Oña and Ana streets of Austria, Sanchinarro. And also another sports pavilion in Butarque (Villaverde). Perhaps both follow the same path as the CDM Los Rosas and soon see more acts of first stones in them.
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