Orihuela Costa has had its image as one of Spain’s Crown Jewels severely tarnished, Latest example, even the UK media has highlighted that three of our blue flag beaches had been closed because of sewage.
This sorry state of affairs is an attack on public health, yet did any representative from the council come to beaches after they were supposedly cleaned and declared safe to use? We very much doubt it.
Without a doubt there is not a city council in Spain as inefficient and clumsy as the one we are inflicted with in Orihuela.
But is it just inefficiency and clumsiness, or is there something more underhanded going on? Orihuela has systemically taken the coast apart, selling off its prized assets, asset stripping as it’s called.
We hear examples, one after another, of how companies are not being paid for several months, resultant debts being built up of several million euros per company,
No money for materials to repair the roads, vehicles driven without insurance etc., it is impossible not to be suspicious!
From the Mayor, down through the ranks, including the estimated 800 civil servants, all of whom are paid very well to serve the general interests of the people of Orihuela as a whole, or are they not serving the people generally but instead serving their individual interests or agendas.
They have seen at the last election they can be totally defeated and because the population is expanding at such a pace, the population of the coast will soon be bigger than the rest of Orihuela combined. Not surprising that other political parties are beginning to get nervous.
Orihuela Costa is in a fight for its future and our main adversary is Orihuela council which not only wants to retain control of its most prized possession, but it also wants to strengthen its hold by any means possible, What we say is – do not listen to fake promises which are all smoke and mirrors, but judge Orihuela on it’s history.
Orihuela Costa is in its worst ever condition, we are just about to approach the summer season, but this ruination doesn’t happen overnight, it takes commitment and an agenda to ruin the crown jewels of Spain.
And another huge black mark against it is, as was highlighted in the Spanish media; it has the honour of being the municipality with the highest number of serving mayors and councillors convicted of corruption, on trial or waiting to go to trial.
MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. Pursuit of money drove Orihuela in its early years and is still going on today unabated. We are talking about the black economy driving the property sector especially landgrab, which is still going on today.
One that comes to mind is La finca Langostina which the family have been fighting for over 20 years. How can building licenses be granted so quickly? Could there be deals done in cafes/bars; are brown envelopes still being exchanged?
The most expensive commodity the coast has to offer is its prized land. You only have to look at how many cranes blot our lndscape, the number of licenses granted, how quickly land can be reclassified from rustic to commercial, As the saying goes: “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck then it probably a duck.”
In short, it all looks and smells suspect then it is, somebody gains but it is the Coast that always loses.
