New residents moving into one of Rojales’ largest expanding residential areas have found parts of the development without working street lighting.
The issue affects several avenues in Sector SN-7 Lo Marabú, where newly built white, minimalist homes aimed largely at the residential tourism market are being sold for between €300,000 and €500,000, depending on whether they are bungalows or detached villas.
Despite the high value of the properties, parts of the public lighting network are out of service. Streetlight boxes have been left open and empty, with missing copper cables reported in areas including Avenida de Lérida, Avenida de Gerona and Avenida de Jerez de la Frontera.
It remains unclear whether the cables were never installed or were stolen some time ago.
Rojales mayor Antonio Pérez and the town planning department are treating the matter cautiously while they check the legal and technical status of the affected phases. If the sector has not been formally received by the council, the properties should not have first occupancy licences and, formally, no one should yet be living there.
However, sources familiar with the development say the sector has been at least partially handed over to the council for several years. This handover process is important because, once an urban development is formally accepted, the town hall assumes responsibility for maintaining roads, pavements, street lighting, water networks, sewerage, green areas and other public services.
If the affected streets were already received by the council, Rojales Town Hall may have to cover the cost of replacing the missing wiring. The expense could be significant, as several avenues are reportedly affected.
If the area remains the responsibility of the developer, the council would have to require the developer to repair the deficiencies.
There is a further complication. The Lo Marabú development changed hands several times during the financial crisis. Some developers abandoned the project, and plots eventually passed into the hands of Spain’s so-called “bad bank”. If the works were never formally accepted, the council could attempt to use guarantees deposited by the original developers to fund the repairs, provided those guarantees have not already been returned or transferred to creditors.
If that route is not possible, the cost may ultimately fall on the municipal budget.
Lo Marabú, where Sector SN-7 is located, is a huge urban development area covering around 1.3 million square metres. It connects with Ciudad Quesada and borders the protected area of the Torrevieja and La Mata lagoons, with the Campo de Guardamar road and the CV-905 nearby.
The development was approved under Rojales’ General Urban Development Plan in 2000. It has capacity for more than 4,000 homes, although only around 25% was completed before the property crash.
After the collapse of the real estate market, Lo Marabú became one of many so-called “ghost urbanisations” across the Valencian Community. For more than a decade, little progress was made.
Activity resumed shortly before the pandemic and has accelerated in the last two years, with cranes, construction crews, heavy lorries and concrete mixers returning to the area. The council has authorised hundreds of new homes, some of which are now being occupied.
Sector SN-7, also identified in Rojales’ planning documents as Lo Marabú Oeste-Superior, covers 364,284 square metres, or just over 36 hectares. It is designated for residential use, mainly grouped and detached single-family homes, with a maximum capacity of 1,090 properties.
