By Tomás Moreno
As spokesperson for the residents’ association of CABO ROIG Y LOMAS, Orihuela Costa, I write this article to convey the sense of enormous disappointment and frustration felt by the residents of the coast, at the situation they are living through.
The government team, headed by the Mayor, Pepe Vegara (Partido Popular), was constituted on the 20th June, and the councillors responsible for the areas of government and their 23 advisors (staff of trust) were appointed, with salaries which will exceed, in total, two million euros/year. For his part, Manuel Mestre, leader of VOX, was appointed head of the Orihuela Costa council.
During these past two months, the residents of the coast have observed, perplexed, that practically none of the serious problems they suffer, have been solved, as a consequence of municipal paralysis and inaction, as evidenced by the following facts.
Since the beginning of the year, the beaches of Orihuela have not had beach bars and their associated services (sun beds, umbrellas, water sports). This has led to a considerable drop in the number of users, who have moved to other beaches in the surrounding area.
Not unrelated to this “exodus” has been the time it has taken to get the toilets up and running, which now operate with a deficient cleaning service. The new government has decided to modify the tendering system, which will delay the resumption of the beach bars until early 2024 at the earliest. This is a torpedo in the waterline of coastal tourism, which is going to cost us nearly a million euros.
The waste collection and street cleaning service continues to be enormously deficient for the needs of Orihuela Costa, both in collection vehicles and machinery, and in containers, which require a total renovation. What are they waiting for to buy the thousand new containers that the coast needs? As a consequence of these shortcomings, the state of our streets this summer, with overfilled containers, bags of rubbish on the pavement, leachate everywhere, lack of sweeping, etc., is calamitous, according to neighbours and as can be seen on social networks.
The summer schools, so necessary for the work-life balance of parents of pupils on the coast, have not been set up, causing serious harm to the community.
The pruning and rubbish collection service is still not working properly, due to a lack of resources, planning, civic-mindedness and police control. As a result, our streets have a third-world appearance, full of debris, household goods and pruning debris. The cleaning up of a couple of rubbish dumps recently carried out by the council is totally insufficient if it is not accompanied by the installation of an ecopark, something we have been demanding for many years.
We have not seen any improvement in the roads along the coast in the last two months, despite having contracted a company for their maintenance. No pothole patching (the Villamartin road is crying out for it!), nor renewal of the vertical and horizontal signage. The lack of materials is seriously hampering the services included in the contract. What are they waiting for to buy asphalt, paving stones, paint, etc.? In the meantime, road safety and the integrity of the vehicles that circulate on our streets continue to be seriously compromised, and citizens wonder how such nonsense is possible.
Our parks, gardens, trees (palm trees, etc.) and children’s areas are abandoned because the contract for their maintenance has not yet been awarded. We do not know, to date, when this new contract, which is so necessary, will be operational. As long as it is not in place, we will continue to have more than 50% of the parks and gardens without proper maintenance, unpruned palm trees spreading their dirt on the pavements, bushes about half a metre high in the streets and pavements, etc.
Finally, we would like to point out that the association presented on 29th June last to the Orihuela Costa councillor, Mr. Mestre, a plan to urgently improve basic services for the summer of 2023. It is extremely disheartening to see that practically none of the 26 actions we proposed have been carried out to date.
Meanwhile, there is unanimity amongst the local residents that this has been the worst summer in the history of Orihuela Costa. And a feeling of anger, impotence, frustration and sadness is settling among them, seeing how time passes and the only tangible thing in these past two months has been the good emoluments established for the councillors and the high number of advisors hired, which, for the moment, do not seem to serve to achieve the objectives.
The citizens of the coast are tired of waiting years and years for basic services and infrastructures that are at least as decent as those of the surrounding municipalities.
Pepe Vegara, Mayor of Orihuela, the coast is close to the collapse of its basic services and the patience of its residents. Please do something, and do it soon, by publicly informing us of the measures you plan to put in place in the short and medium term. In the past two months, you are undermining the confidence and enthusiasm that you have created in the citizens.
Our support and collaboration will not be lacking to ensure that they fulfil their electoral commitments and that this summer, the worst summer in the history of Orihuela Costa, is not repeated.
