'Concrete monstrosities' up for auction at half the value

Unfinished Oliva building works to be sold off online

CONSTRUCTION works in Oliva and Gandia, which stopped at half-mast when developers ran out of money, have been put up for auction at half their market value.

Four of the six building sites are the shells of residential buildings on the corner of Gandia's Paseo de las Germanías and the former Barx road – a privileged spot – and come in at between €124,000 and €317,000.

The other two were destined to be private car parks on the N-332 in Oliva, about halfway between the bottom of Calle Mayor and Mas y Mas supermarket at the Pego road end of town.

An ill-considered move back in 2011, these seven-storey concrete monstrosities were intended to provide car spaces for residents to rent for €120 a month 'to solve the parking problems near the N-332' – even though it would cost considerably less to leave one's vehicle in a meter bay 24 hours a day.

Residents next to the car parks endured an entire summer of deafening noise and clouds of dust just metres from their balconies, their privacy being invaded by ogling builders, and the resulting concrete shell obscuring their views and completely blocking out the sun on their terraces. Then they were left with the added insult of the structure being abandoned unfinished.

A crane that was perilously close – less than 10 metres from their homes – remained in place for several years, wobbling dangerously in the wind.

Despite not being economically viable for those it was destined for, the parking block is said to be worth €7 million, even incomplete. However it is up for auction for just €3.9m.

They are open to bids until August 9 on Eactivos.com, a website specialising in online bids for fixed assets being sold off by companies in the throes of bankruptcy.

Promociones y Construcciones Oliva, S.A., or Procolsa, went into receivership within months of blighting the lives of homeowners affected by the Oliva blocks.