Orihuela Council has put out to tender a contract for the decorative lighting of festivals from April 1 to June 30, 2024, a contract valued at 71,000 euro for the 3 months, or the equivalent to 4 full-time salaries to employ people for a whole year, or a house forever.
The objective, they sat, is to recover the lighting at the different festive events in the town’s districts. The contract for the lighting service expired in the middle of last year, which caused the Council to be left without lights for the Reconquista Festivities, for which it had to resort to donations from the Justa y Rufina Santa Festivities Association and sponsorships from private firms, rather than using public money to pay for the lights that could perhaps otherwise be invested in more practical solutions. More controversial was the Christmas lights contract, in which the districts were left without. Since then, there has been much criticism for the lack of ornamental lighting at festive events in the different population centres of the town. With this new contract, the Council hopes to save the next few months, waiting for a comprehensive lighting contract that should arrive before the celebration of this year’s Reconquista Festival.
Thus, the published document now covers from April 1 to June 30. Therefore, and as has been customary in recent months, the contract will be resolved in extremis, since the deadline for submitting offers will end on March 18, just 13 days before the contract comes into force. The tender price amounts to 70,930.2 euro (not including the cost of the electricity to illuminate them), for the 15 festivities included in the specifications. Thus, during the month of April the La Murada festivities will be celebrated. In May it will be the turn of the festivities of Correntias Altas, Barrio de la Cruz Coverta – Ctra de Beniel, Barrio de San Isidro and the Pedania del Raiguero de Bonanza. The month of June is when it gathers the most festive events. This month the festivities of La Matanza, Molins, Capuchinos-San Antonio de Padua, Barrio Severo Ochoa, Barrio Ctra. De Beniel, Barrio de San Francisco, Barrio de Los Huertos, Barrio de San Anton, the District of Camino Viejo will be celebrated. of Callosa and the San Isidro festivities in the district of Torremendo.
No doubt, the residents of those town who faced such a bleak and lonely Christmas will gather in thanks to the residents of the rest of the municipality, including the coast, for their contributions to a better life for 3 months.
