At the plenary session of the Orihuela Council, held on Thursday, councillors unanimously rejected the allegations made by the residents of the Bellavista de Cabo Roig urbanisation, opening the procedure that they say will lead to expropriation of the land occupied by the closed section of the Cabo Roig walkway.
They warn, however, that the procedure could be a tortuous path, due to the refusal of the urbanisation owners to accept a lower price than what the Council is willing to pay.
However, the Councilor for Urban Planning, Matías Ruiz, has been quite optimistic stating that he is confident of being able to reach an agreement with the residents and not having to resort to the court of arbitration, which would slow down the opening of the walkway.
“We opted for the path of mutual agreement, which is the fastest way to move forward, and we believe that we can reach an understanding,” he stated in the plenary session.
“The City Council has made a fair offer for the land which they can accept or not. If they do not accept it, it will be the Provincial Expropriation Court that will finally set the fair price. We find this route to be the best and most reasonable way to move ahead.”
The Council had valued the land at 70,000 euros, 227 square meters on the edge of the cliff, while the owners are asking for 3 million, a figure that the Council is not willing to pay.
Currently, residents and visitors to Orihuela Costa are forced to make a detour of almost two kilometres to move between the two points connecting Aguamarina with La Caleta, a stretch of just 60 metres, along the seafront.
On March 28 of this year, the Provincial Coastal Service authorised the Orihuela Council to reestablish the passage that connects the Aguamarina pedestrian path with La Caleta, however, the works were not started, despite the fact that the Ministry for Ecological Transition gave them a period of one year to reopen of the section, which they valued at just over 100,000 euros. Due to a lack of funding the Council says that it is unable to undertake these works before the Costas’ authorisation expires on March 28, 2024.
The PSOE councillor Milagros Lacárcel, said that he regretted that the government coalition, made up by PP and Vox, did not comply in September with the recommendation made by the secretary of the City Council, to begin the procedure for urgent occupation of the land, to act immediately, reopen it and then pay the fair price to the owners. “This is now going to take years. As long as the owners are not compensated with the fair price that is established, the promenade will not be able to be opened or the works carried out,” he added.
However, the Councilor for Heritage, Matías Ruiz, said again that he trusts in a mutual agreement between the residents and the City Council “and we want to do things by consensus.” “We are going to talk to the property owners and reach an agreement,” he said.
The spokesperson for Cs, José Aix, is also very optimistic about the reopening of the walkway “and we hope that by next summer the passage could be open,” he added.
