The neighbourhood organisation, AVCRL, which represents 700 members and their families, all of them residents of the Orihuela Costa, has written to the Valencia President, Carlos Mazón, asking for his help in improving the infrastructure and services available to coastal residents.
The message to Mazón from the association is that “The Orihuela Coast needs your help. The situation is chaotic” as the local coastline is in continuous expansion, with accelerated urban development, which welcomes important migratory flows and a large contingent of residential and holiday tourism, but without the corresponding improvement in public services.
The letter points out the “huge shortcomings” in essential matters such as waste collection and treatment, street cleaning, maintenance of green areas, security, road maintenance and essential infrastructure, which are particularly acute on the coast, since “the bipolarity of the municipality produces a continuous imbalance: services are concentrated in the main municipality, from which the ruling parties secure their votes,” it explains.
In terms of population, there are around 30,000 registered residents and another 45,000 who are not included in the census, as well as a further 75,000 residents who live in the area for six months in every year. There are also an additional 100,000 tourist places that fill the coast during the holiday season.
“In a municipality that caters for 40,000 inhabitants in the urban centre and pedanias and 30,000 on the coast, the distance between the coastal residents and the municipal government is often insurmountable.” The letter adds that “no politician at the head of our autonomous community has ever taken this problem seriously, but we have never had a president so close to this reality with a first-hand knowledge of the problems we have.”
Among the shortcomings, it highlights “the very serious problem with educational centres”, despite the fact that “this area is not only the nursing home of Europe, but there are thousands of families of a variety of nationalities who come to live and undertake their life projects, together with their children. The overcrowding is unbearable, as is the public inaction, both in early childhood education and in primary, secondary, high school and vocational training “.
But if the educational situation is “absolutely precarious”, the health situation is not far behind. There is only one health centre for more than 100,000 people, many of them over 65 years of age and many of them non-nationals”, as well as only one public hospital, in Torrevieja, which serves half a million people. And, once again, “there has been the proverbial lack of understanding between administrations, whether or not they are of the same political colour”, but “that is never an excuse”.
“What can we say about the ugly duckling of public services, social services, dependency, disability, accessibility? It does not exist here, dear President, there is nothing at all,” the letter to Mazón states.
And one could go on, because “what is essential is not provided, what is important is not planned – and therefore does not exist -, what is urgent is not resolved, the future is not considered and therefore we are condemned to disaster,” concludes the letter, which asks him not to leave them “unattended,” encouraging him to hold a meeting with AVCRL leaders.
The letter explains that the association is a non-profit organisation that does not charge membership fees and has no public or private funding: ” We are altruistic, independent, without political affinity and we defend the interests of the residents with a positive and proactive attitude.”
The document is signed by its president, Tomás Moreno.
Images courtesy of AVCRL
