Monday, April 22, 2024, 3:02 p.m.
The Levante dam will finally have to go out to public tender for the second time. Municipal technicians have assessed that the ongoing tender cannot continue under the current terms after one of the bidders presented an appeal. This represents a great setback for the municipal government team, which now does not estimate that the works can be awarded through a new tender until the end of the summer. Starting in September, the local executive hopes to begin deploying the bulk of the port's tenders, especially the adaptation of the areas adjacent to the new leisure center and the Mínguez dock.
The mayor, Eduardo Dolón, who has not given details of what the error was that forced the works to be put out to tender again, wanted to make light of the matter. In this sense, he has confessed that, even if it had been awarded now, they had no intention of starting work on the Levante dam this summer precisely to avoid having the promenade partially closed in high season, just when more tourists frequent this infrastructure. Everything and that at the beginning it was considered to start with the areas that could be less annoying.
The mayor already made public during the last site visit to the new leisure center that the resource of one of the companies invited to the tender was being evaluated. He also explained that the communication bridge between the leisure center and the cantilevered promenade of the Levante dam would have to change its appearance. Previously, a straight (and even lifting) platform was proposed and now it will have to make a parabola to gain clearance and allow transit under heavy trucks.
The tender that must now be terminated, in fact, only contemplated acting on the promenade in the section between the Fishermen's Market and the lighthouse. The new bridge connecting with the leisure center, closer to Juan Aparicio promenade, will require a new permit from the Ports and a works project and independent bidding process.
The first step that the government team took at the beginning of the current legislature was to obtain that permit from Ports that was so resisted by the previous Botanical Council. However, it was not until last November that the Governing Board approved the contracting file for the resurfacing and repair works of the Levante dam. 1.2 kilometers that, 24 years after its construction in 1999, still face the challenge of mutating to a more modern and, above all, lasting appearance over time.
The base bidding budget for the works gave good proof of the magnitude of the project. In these years of waiting – the work has been announced on many occasions – the price of the intervention has risen to 8,463,183.22 euros, of which 895,000 euros come from European funds, which finance only the modernization of the luminaries. The execution period, as announced by the City Council at the time, was nine months from the date of notification of the award agreement.
The awarding of the works was going to be carried out through Lot 12 of the Framework Agreement, a preselected pool of companies that includes up to four registered companies, all of them dedicated to building and urbanization works. In this sense, an invitation was sent to the UTE Serrano Aznar-Eiffage-Los Serranos, the UTE Orthem-Abala, Pavasal and Grupo Bertolín.
The financing of the works, in another order of things, was already guaranteed thanks to the loan that the City Council has just signed with Banco Sabadell for a value of 19 million. The Levante dam was precisely the project that took most of the money from that loan.
Work begins on the new roundabout
The announcement, made by the first mayor during an interview with Torrevieja Radio, coincided this Monday with the start of work on the new access roundabout to the port's underground parking, whose opening is scheduled for this June. In this sense, he explained that in these first days measurements have been made on the ground and material has begun to be collected.
Regarding the most delicate aspect, the necessary transfer of the hippie booths that are located in front of the Customs building, the mayor says that they expected around twenty to be affected. “Although they could be less,” he clarified.
After meeting with the businessmen of the traditional market, Dolón explained, their main concern is how long they will be idle. In this sense, the councilor wanted to reassure the merchants and stated that the first thing they will do is prepare the ground where they will have to move, unbeknownst to the rest of their colleagues. The transfer, he has calculated, hopes that it will not last more than two weeks.
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