The Aguamarina Park at the coastal end of Calle Agua, which should have been handed over to the Ayuntamiento on completion of a 200,000 euro facelift at the end of January is, is still awaiting completion as the contractor is still awaiting delivery of equipment.
In addition, during the course of the delay, a number of deficiencies have come to light, a result of it’s faulty design, the most prominent of which is the loss of it’s sand covering every time it rains.
The park slopes toward the sea so with heavy rain the whole area quickly floods, the result of which is the creation of large channels of water which drain off toward the coastal walkway, taking with it the sand from the park.
The sand is deposited either on the grass beyond the walkway and onto the micro reserve below, a protected area, or onto the path itself.
The Town Hall were advised of the problem by a local residents group last February.
The result is that on such occasions council staff are then deployed to the area to sweep up the sand that has accumulated onto the walkway and spread it back across the park. This involves a team of 8 council staff working for at least half a day, money and resources that are being squandered because of its faulty design.
A spokesman for the Association said he hopes that the cost of these council resources are being passed on to the contractor.
It seems inconceivable that the surveyors who designed the refurbishment project did not take this situation into account, something that was easily foreseeable to most people.
Additionally, the membrane that was laid across the park to keep down the weeds is not doing its job as, in just the few short weeks since it was laid, large areas of the park were covered in weeds. Thankfully, these too have now been removed, but they will most certainly return.
The Leader has also learned that there is still even more equipment to be delivered and outstanding work to be completed, trampolines, a podium, a stage, the painting of benches, picnic tables and pavements.
On Thursday morning, a member of the Cabo Roig y Lomas Neighbourhood Association accompanied by the Councillor for Infrastructures, Ángel Noguera, visited the park, to examine the current situation and the prospects for its completion.
The councillor stated that the installation of the missing equipment will not be carried out and that it will be the council and not the contractor that carries out the remaining outstanding work including channelling the rainwater properly, thus avoiding the problem with the sand being dragged onto the promenade and the protected areas.
So almost 4 months after the Aguamarina park should have been completed we still don’t know when it will be open once again for public use.
At the moment, whether caused by poor design, inferior materials, human error or council inefficiency, it would still seem to be a long way off.
