Wednesday, November 8, 2023, 17:28
Carrying out the storm drain at the Playas de Orihuela school and adjacent streets could increase the cost of up to 5.4 million euros, two million more than what was initially budgeted in 2018 within the framework of the drafting of the Coastal Stormwater Master Plan. This was explained by the Councilor for the Coast, Manuel Mestre, during the extraordinary plenary session this Wednesday. The order of the day was to approve the release of remainders for the reform of El Paseo and changes in the budget items for the payment of pending works, but in the end the debate has led to a monograph on water management on the Oriolano coast.
Stormwater is one of the most serious problems facing the coast. The often uncontrolled urbanization of many areas was carried out without the builders installing rainwater collection networks, which has generated major flooding problems in a territory crisscrossed by many boulevards and most of which have already been concreted.
The investments of the Vega Renhace Plan, without going any further, were mostly planned to house the majority of projects on the coast. In this sense, a collector has been put out to tender in Cabo Roig and another on Mariano Torregrosa street, next to the San Miguel highway. There are also plans to build another collector for the underpasses of the N-332. Everything paid for by the Generalitat. But it still wouldn’t be enough. The bulk of the necessary works were already budgeted in 2016 in the Master Plan promoted by former orange councilor Juan Ignacio López-Bas.
Now, however, the document would suffer from some shortcomings. The legal requirements are stricter, Mestre explained. Hence, he continued, the document must be updated to the new regulations on the Hydraulic Public Domain, which requires for example, he said, “the construction of a storm tank or a hydrocyclone.” In the last term, however, building a storm tank in Aguamarina was ruled out.
In 2018, the bulk of the works were budgeted at 3.4 million, that is, without quantifying the effects of the high inflation suffered in recent years; hence the figure used today by Mestre. In this area, the Vox leader also pointed out, works as essential as those aimed at ending flooding on Arcoiris, Capricornio or Nicolás de Bussy streets, where, Mestre said, “most of the runoff is concentrated.”
Seven actions in total that, he defended, have nothing to do with the scarce amount that, in his opinion, the previous government budgeted for the collector of the Playas de Orihuela school (931,108 euros), far from the 1.4 million that, Mestre expressed, The work was budgeted in the project commissioned by Ciudadanos to the Timsa company in 2021. An investment that the government voted today to withdraw for the benefit of others, fundamentally the works of the MSW work center on the coast and the rehabilitation of the Caja de Monserrate and the Rubalcava Palace.
Another item withdrawn was that allocated to Phase II of drinking water works (478,062 euros). Mestre defended that the next budget will contemplate the execution of the much-needed reservoir that is called to guarantee the supply of drinking water on the coast, threatened by a growing and increasingly less seasonal population, as well as by new urban developments underway such as that of Cala Fly. This investment, he said, “will allow us to increase the reserve in case of breakdown.”
Mestre’s explanations were preceded by criticism from members of the previous municipal government. The spokesperson for Ciudadanos, José Aix, reproached the government team for eliminating these items for the school’s deposit and collector and warned of the financial responsibility that the City Council could entail if construction companies with promotions under construction were deprived of such a supply. basic such as drinking water and without which they cannot sell their homes.
According to a Hidraqua report that the councilors have mentioned, the capacity to transport drinking water to coastal homes is already around 100% of its capacity. Currently, as Cambiemos revealed in November of last year, the daily water demand on the coast would be about 28,500 cubic meters per day while, with the planned urban developments, it would reach 39,300. That is, the horizon projects a supply capacity deficit of more than 10,500 cubic meters.
For her part, the socialist spokesperson, Carolina Gracia, accused Mestre of being the “crutch” of the PP and assuming as her own what, in her opinion, is a loss of investments for Orihuela Costa. «Vox has been quite harmed in today’s plenary session because the councils from which the cuts are made the most are theirs. There are no investments for their areas and the PP is taking investments at their expense that they will later sell from the popular group.
The spokesman for the popular parties, Víctor Valverde, denied that investments on the coast are being cut. In this sense, he explained that the items that are removed “are recovered elsewhere.” He highlighted the investment to complete the MSW work center on the coast, the 35,000 euros to draft the social center project for the coast, and the 150,000 to improve road safety on the roads of Villamartín and San Miguel. He also explained that the elimination of the item to create five clean points (120,000 euros) will be corrected with the new ecopark that the regional Consortium is going to build, and that the works in Monserrate and Rubalcava will also result in better service for all the residents of Orihuela, including those on the coast.
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