Torrevieja Sur Coalition of Communities
LAST week we were fortunate to have Carmen Gomez – Torrevieja councillor for parks and gardens, urban cleaning, waste management and contracts – as our guest speaker.
Carmen informed us that in the Torresur area the ground between Calle Monteperdido and Avenida Espuña was to be developed with a view to having allotments available to the public, plus an area for lawn bowls.
The allotments will be free to the public and for a duration of 10 years, and allocated by a lottery. In conjunction with Agamed the town hall will provide water, and also fence off the plots. Only in the case of poor management and failure to maintain the plot will it be taken back from that person.
This project will be subject to the existing rain/flood project with the water from Los Altos being diverted into the ravine next to Mariblanca park. The plans for the allotments, etc, should be available to the public to view in September 2022, with phase one of the project completed by February 2023. This news was welcomed by the chairman and members of Torresur who have campaigned for years to have this area improved.
With regard to Parque Natalio, next to Consum/Calle Escorpiones, Carmen showed photos revealing the illegal tent had been removed. When informed by the meeting that it had returned, she contacted Federico Alarcón, councillor for security, to deal with the problem once again.
The councillor then took questions from the meeting, with a member asking about the opposition parties denouncing the contract for all cleaning operations in Torrevieja.
Carmen assured the meeting that the contract was legal and as far as transparency was concerned any resident of Torrevieja could apply to view it and that it was still to be proven whether some of the allegations may be obstructive rather than constructive.
She stressed that the complexity of the contract demanded the highest scrutiny and procedures before being accepted, including all the points regarding employment of personnel, new vehicles and distribution of manpower specified in the contract.
A member from Mariblanca raised the point that at present the street sweeping machine could not fully clean the street due to cars parked on either side of the road. The chairman asked why was additional manpower not allocated to use a blower to blow the dust etc. into the path of the machine. The councillor confirmed that this point was included in the new contract when persons with a blower would be part of the street cleaning team.
A member from Punta Marina showed a photo of a broken sprinkler head in a nearby park, Carmen immediately phoned the manager of the cleaning company to repair it.
The president of Rocajuna 1 sent a question asking if Torrevieja is implementing a mosquito disinfection programme within the municipality. Although not within Carmen’s remit she informed the meeting that as well as the mosquito problem, the eradication of cockroaches was also included.
Residents of Monte Perdido asked if anything could be done about the large mound of earth in front of their houses. Carmen advised that as the mound was on private property no official action could be quickly achieved. However, she would contact the owner of the land to reduce the height of the mound of earth.
Sra Gomez had to leave the meeting due to other commitments and those in attendance thanked her for her frankness and the information.
Gitte, the councillor for international residents, then introduced representatives of the company employed by the council to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce its carbon footprint. They first discussed solar panel installations and explained the pros and cons of whether to have a battery backup or a hybrid system, which gave energy from a supplier when insufficient sunshine was available. They also pointed out that not all suppliers paid for nor banked the surplus electricity from a customer’s excess solar power.