Discomfort and restlessness. The neighbors of Virgin of Remedyone of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in the city of Alicantedo not hide their concern at the “silence” of the City hall after the failure in the allocation of lots to renovate different apartment blocks. This project, promoted by the City Council with the participation of the Generalitat and which also has the contribution of European fundsis apparently at a standstill after the competition between companies to take over the work has come to an end. desert on two occasions.
As they explain, given the situation, a few days ago the City Council called a meeting for November 20 at the integrated municipal center of Algiers square which that same day was postponed without a date by notice from the council. “After four years of meetings with neighbors to reach agreements and discuss, after the Neighborhood Planannouncing home renovations and having publicized works with great fanfare, now we know that the project is unviable“They are words of Married Angeltreasurer of the community of neighbors of the 2 Prebístero Gisbert Streetone of the blocks that needed to be renovated.
Image of the Virgen del Remedio neighborhood, in Alicante. / Alex Domínguez
From the neighborhood community they have addressed the City Council, in charge of developing this project through the council departments of Urbanism, Dwelling y European Projectsdirected respectively by Rocio Gomez, Carlos de Juan y Antonio Peral. They want them to clarify “what solutions they intend to give to this situation.” “We want to know what the alternative is,” they demand, because “all the money budgeted by the City Council and with European aid can go into the trash and there are no explanations.”
Casado believes that the situation generated suggests “a hair grooming“It is not normal that after four years with the project underway no company wants to take charge.” At the same time, they point out that the Rehabilitation Office created to manage these works “has hardly had any use.” “The funds it has received could have been used to increase the budgets of the lots that have been left empty: if they have been left empty it is because they are unviable for the construction companies,” says the neighbor.
City Council reaction
From the Consistory they assure that they continue “working on alternatives for the rehabilitation of homes” and affirm that they have “planned” to summon the neighbors to “speak with them” about the project “in the coming days.”
Regarding criticism of the role of the office, the City Council assures that “it continues working” and that at this time “is focused on its work of construction management of the urbanization project“, planned for the same neighborhood, “for the start of work.”
Context
On September 15, it emerged in the municipal files that no commercial company had opted for the City Council's proposals to reform the Virgen del Remedio blocks. The works were divided into four lots distributed as follows: the buildings located on Ávila streets 1 and 3, Pintor Gastón Castellón 27 and Sierra de Bernia 2 and 4 in the batch 1; those on Calle Castilla 2 and 4, Sierra de Bernia 1 and 3, Villa de Chiva 16 and Pintor Gastón Castelló 25 in the batch 2; Canon Giner 2, Painter Gastón Castelló 21, Prebístero Gisbert 2, Aragón 3, Sierra de Aitana 2 and Villa de Chiva 6 in the batch 3; and Pino Santo 2 and 3 and Villa de Chiva 2 in the lot 4.
Blocks in the Virgen del Remedio neighborhood of Alicante. / Alex Domínguez
With a eight month execution period and a budget of 6,894,590.27 eurostaxes included, the proposal was not interesting for any company and the competition was void. This made the City Council react, which the next day reactivated the process to rehabilitate the 264 homes contemplated in the four lots through a direct contract, without changing the initial budget. In the Contracting TableOn November 7, it was found that only one company had presented itself to take charge of the work on lot 2, the ones with the highest budget, with an offered price of 1,899,255.97 euros, only one cent more expensive than the tender price.
The company is Abala Infraestructuras SL, which is part of the The Gaze Gather Gather Globsbased in Murciaand whose offer was scored with 39.9 points out of 100 by the Contracting Board, according to the minutes of November 13, which urged the company to present the relevant documentation within a period of 10 days and proposed to the contracting body to approve the award. The other three lots are once again left without companies that want to take charge of them.
Redevelopment, ahead
Parallel to this plan is that of the redevelopment works of the neighborhood environment. In this case, the adaptation of the new plaza between the streets is contemplated Chiva Village y Granada and the creation of “superblocks” with pedestrian priority or multi-use spaces, the reorganization of parking, the expansion of sidewalks, the placement of street furniture and the installation of LED streetlights.
Pavasal Construction Companywith headquarters in Quart de Poblet (Valencia), has been the company chosen to carry out these works which, according to what the City Council has informed the residents, will have to start this week. The planned execution period is eight months, so if it is met they would have to finish at the end of July 2026, and the budget is 3,623,950 euros.
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