The company, Actúa, which has provided the park maintenance service without a contract for six years, is demanding that the Orihuela council pays it’s outstanding invoices.
It has sent the City Council two letters in which it claims the local administration owe an amount close to 2 million euros for unpaid bills, late payment interest and cost overruns.
In a first document, it claims 1.5 million from the City Council: 1.4 for unpaid invoices and 85,270 for late-payment interest both on unpaid invoices and on those that have already been paid. This, the letter indicates, by virtue of a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, of October 20, 2022, in which new criteria was established to calculate this interest and compensation for collection costs. In addition, it continues, the City Council has persisted in its failure to pay, causing serious damage to the company .
In the second letter, Actúa requests payment for the service during 2022.
This situation, the document states, is causing serious economic damage as the costs are higher than those initially provided for in the contract. For this reason, the company insists that the City Council must cover all expenses to ensure the continuity of the service, since Actúa does not have a legal duty to bear these additional costs until the new contract is awarded.
In the event that this request for payment of the extra costs during 2022 is not processed and approved as soon as possible, the company warns that it will take the council to court.
Providing the service with a contract that was introduced in 2011 and which expired six years ago means, in practice, that human, material and economic resources are inadequate to maintain the parks and gardens on the coast in good condition, which generates continuous complaints about their condition by residents, so much so that only 40% of the green areas are currently being maintained.
In January, the City Council announced a new tender, although it has not yet been published on the contracting portal, to cover the 2.5 million square meters (258 hectares) that occupy the 213 green areas of Orihuela Costa.
Costs will increase from 860,000 euros per year to 1.9 million euros for five non-extendable years, n total, almost 10 million euros, so “it is the most important contract of this mandate, the most necessary and with the greatest impact in our municipality,” said the deputy mayor, José Aix, at the time.
Following a complaint by Cambiemos before the Anticorruption authorities, the courts have summoned the councillors of Ciudadanos, Luisa Boné and Ángel Noguera, who must give a statement regarding the current situation, on the 13th March
