The Dyntra Platform is an online tool dedicated to enhancing transparency, accountability, and good governance within public administrations and in a recent report it has evaluated the municipality of Torrevieja as the most transparent council in the region with an index of 85.8%.
This remarkable achievement ranks it first among all municipalities in the Valencian Community and the province of Alicante, placing it ahead of Alcoy and Santa Pola, which hold second and third places, respectively.
Other local municipalities listed in the rankings within the Valencian Community, all of which are some considerable way behind, include, in position 44, Orihuela with a transparency index of 32.72%. Almoradí is in position 57 (23.46%), Guardamar in position 65 (16.67%), Callosa de Segura in position 70 (12.35%), Pilar de la Horadada in position 71 (11.73%) and Rojales in position 77 (4.32%).
Torrevieja’s governing team celebrated this achievement, highlighting their significant improvement from last year, when the municipality ranked 37th regionally and 167th nationally. The launch of the Transparency Portal has propelled Torrevieja to the top of the regional rankings and 20th at the national level.
Despite its success, Torrevieja has areas for improvement, such as publishing the income tax declarations, pay slips of officials, councillors’ public agendas, and travel expenses.
Councillor Ricardo Recuero praised Torrevieja’s efforts, emphasizing the city’s commitment to open government and transparency.
Orihuela’s performance on the Dyntra portal reveals significant shortcomings, as the municipality ranks far behind others in the Valencian Community and the Vega Baja region. With a transparency index of just 32.72%, Orihuela is placed at 44th position regionally, reflecting a stark contrast to Torrevieja.
The poor ranking highlights Orihuela’s challenges in providing access to vital information such as economic data, public works decisions, and citizen engagement opportunities. Moreover, the municipality’s inability to meet transparency standards risks eroding public trust, as it limits residents’ ability to monitor governance effectively.
Orihuela’s position as one of the region’s largest municipalities makes its underperformance even more concerning and as such, improving its transparency index should become a priority to enhance governance, rebuild trust, and align with modern standards of accountability and citizen participation.
However, even Orihuela’s performance pales in comparison to other Vega Baja municipalities, with Almoradí (23.46%), Guardamar (16.67%), and Pilar de la Horadada (11.73%) also struggling with transparency.
Meanwhile San Fulgencio does not appear on the index indicating that it has either not been assessed by Dyntra or the municipality has not provided the necessary data for evaluation.
While San Fulgencio’s official website includes a “Transparency” section, indicating an effort to provide public information, the lack of evaluation by Dyntra makes it challenging to objectively assess the municipality’s transparency level.
