Rojales council has been forced to stop construction of the new network of sewage plants because they don’t have the full ownership off the land on which the new facility is being sited.
The mayor, Antonio Perez, said on Thursday that he is negotiating with the current owners in order to sign an agreement of transfer or purchase which will allow the builders to resume work. “However, that is unlikely to happen before the middle of September, he said”
The problem of the land ownership was something brought up by the Rojales Democratic Party (Pader) several months ago and, as they suggested at the time the work has now been brought to a halt.
The owners of the land have filed a discretionary appeal to try to stop the execution of the project. They said that, for years, part of the water purification system has been on their farm but they have never received a penny in compensation, so they are not willing to bow down to the council demands to hand over the additional land in order that the council can expand the facility in Lo Pepin.
Pader argued that “until the availability of the land is confirmed, the project cannot go ahead, because the cost to be met by the City Council for the procurement of the land is unknown.
The mayor explained that a new reservoir has also to be built to store untreated water when there is heavy rainfall, as the sewage plant does not have the capacity to hold the necessary volume.
“I can not set the date when all this will be resolved, but I am optimistic and I hope that it will be soon,” said Antonio Pérez.
