Road widening will enable inland housing boom, say protesters
RESIDENTS and ecologists are arguing that the regional government initiative to widen the CV-95 Orihuela-Torrevieja road ‘cannot ever be the pretext or excuse to promote mass urban development’ in rural areas of the Vega Baja.
Regional government maps show that there are 1,386.8 hectares of land classified for building new residential developments in the vicinity of the CV-95, ‘equivalent to 2,733 football pitches’.
The dual carriageway scheme is a long-standing demand of local businesses linked to real estate promotion, according to the Arcángel residents’ association of San Miguel de Salinas, friends of the Sierra Escalona (ASE), friends of the south Alicante wetlands (AHSA) and Segura Transparente Vega Baja.
They admit it is ‘obvious’ the area needs a ‘comprehensive
intermodal mobility plan with the emphasis on sustainable public transport that connects and integrates the different towns inland with our coast and not just Orihuela
and Torrevieja’. They also note that the only sections of the CV-95 with traffic congestion problems are between the AP-7 and N-332 in Torrevieja (through Los Balcones), and between Bigastro and Orihuela, which are not among the stretches being turned into a dual-carriageway.
The 1,386.8 hectares of land slated for new housing is the sum total of 25 projects in five municipalities, with one sector in each of San Miguel and Torrevieja, four in Bigastro, nine in Jacarilla and 10 in Orihuela, these last two occupying 261.7 and 1,018.6 hectares respectively.
Projects in these sectors are at various stages, some remain undeveloped, others have asyet unstarted urban development plans (PAI) approved by town halls and others are under construction.
The associations insist that ‘economic development must be married with sustainability and environmental conservation’.
“The future of our area lies in protecting, maintaining and improving our rich natural and cultural heritage and landscape, not in reproducing the mass urban development and lack of services of Torrevieja and Orihuela for inland zones,” they stated.