- The first floor shell still remains unfinished
Although the promise of previous governments was to deliver a completed Emergency Centre, on all levels other than the ground floor, the building still remains an uncompleted shell.
At first glance it appears impressive but beyond the car park and the ground floor offices there is still a large part of the promised structure yet to be finished.
There was a budget of 1,258,421.65 euros approved in plenary November 2021. but neither the previous PSOE-Cs executive nor the current PP-Vox coalition have so far been able to put out to tender this project, that was conceived during the government of former PP mayor, Emilio Bascuñana.
According to the municipal auditor’s criteria, the future of this project is more uncertain today than ever. It was drawn up in 2021 with the votes in favour from the PP, Ciudadanos (then Bascuñana government partners) but with abstentions from PSOE and Cambiemos, but after two years it is no longer valid, so another modification must be approved.
So far this term, there has been absolutely no reference to this matter in the Consistory beyond a reproach in the plenary session by the councillor of Infrastructure, Víctor Valverde, to Ciudadanos for not moving the project forward when it had the opportunity to do so.
Valverde, the only survivor of the Bascuñana executive in the current government, was the one who championed the completion of the Emergency Centre, despite the suspicions of the other political groups.
Now the party hoping to rescue the centre is Ciudadanos, which has submitted to the Plenary Session a proposal to remove this ill-fated project from the agenda.
In its proposal submitted to the Plenary Session, Ciudadanos now urges the local government to consider and include in the municipal budget project for 2024 a specific investment sufficient to carry out the completion and interior modification of the first floor of the Orihuela Costa Emergency Centre, after analysing exactly which municipal services still require space therein.
In the opinion of José Aix, it would be sensible to move all of the municipal services that are currently provided in the Playa Flamenca town hall to the Emergency Centre, so that the existing town hall can be freed up to provide a new multipurpose and sociocultural centre for the coast.
The motion states that this would help optimise the municipal resources already available on the coast, with Aix saying that they currently only need provide space for the Civil Protection and Samur personal, as the Firefighters Consortium has refused to move to these facilities, and will remain in the Torrevieja park. In this sense, he also points out that that Social Services personnel could be included in any move.
The 4,700 square metre facilities are designed to accommodate Firefighters, Civil Protection and forestry brigades, as well as a SAMU base in summer. The garage basement has 50 parking spaces, three cells and a gym for police agents. On the ground floor, serving the public, offices, changing rooms, bedrooms and a dining room were planned, while on the outside of the plot it also has a heliport.
