ARCHIVED - Political bunfight on Camposol as arguments over rambla financing break out

Although Mazarrón council is expressing a positive desire to resolve the rambla issue, it says it cannot pay for the works

Next week it’s September.

The holidaymakers will disappear, having enjoyed the Mediterranean waters, which are currently warmer than in previous years and the last week of the month will bring more warm, sunny weather in which to enjoy the beaches of the Costa Cálida.

However, with the Mediterranean warmer than normal, thoughts are turning to the potential problems of the normal autumn storms and the risk of Gota Fría, which are highly localised, torrential downpours, exacerbated by warmer water in the Med . These can cause serious floods and are notoriously difficult to predict. Six years ago 13 people died when a Gota Fría hit the Puerto Lumbreras and Lorca municipalities, and 4 years ago Camposol was also on the receiving end of torrential water, although in that particular case the flooding which ensued was caused not by rain which fell directly onto the urbanisation, but by water pouring down a rambla which had been constricted and diverted by the developer in order to create flat land on which to construct illegally built housing.

The result was devastation in the streets built over the natural water course, with gardens flattened, homes flooded, cars swept into swimming pools and dumped unceremoniously into the gardens of villas and roundabouts which lay in the path of the water and even a large swimming pool liner floating down the street and landing on a roundabout. Miraculously nobody was killed or seriously injured, although it took months to clear the debris and repair the damage.

This week the new head of the CHS (the body which controls the waterways) and the new national Government Delegate for the Region of Murcia visited three locations which have been hit by Gota Fría; Puerto Lumbreras, Los Alcázares and Camposol to review the current situation ahead of the Gota Fría season.

Although the visit was uncontroversial in Puerto Lumbreras and Los Alcázares, the Camposol situation is more complicated as the problems involving the rambla have been caused directly by the illegal actions of the developer, the failure of the town hall to prevent the developer from infilling a rambla and then compounded by the failure of the CHS to take action against both parties until several years later, by which time all the affected properties were inhabited by mainly foreign buyers who had purchased in good faith without knowing their properties were A, illegal and B, on top of a rambla infill.

In spite of a regional parliamentary investigation (which produced a damning report outlining the many deficiencies and irregularities on the urbanisation and passed its findings onto the judiciary for possible criminal charges to be investigated) recommending that the three bodies concerned sit down with the regional government and residents to find a working solution to the problem, this has not yet happened, although plans are moving ahead to divert the rambla and create a more realistic water channel which could potentially cope with another Gota Fría situation.

During the visit of the officials to Camposol this week, what can only be described as a "political bunfight" broke out between the parties concerned over the question of who will pay for the works and who will organise what.

The political landscape in the region changed significantly following the last regional and local elections nearly four years ago, the PP forming a regional government, and Mazarrón council headed by PP Mayoress Alicia Jiménez also as a minority government.

Until less than a month ago the national government was also PP, but Mariano Rajoy was ousted by a vote of no confidence brought by PSOE Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez. Appointments such as the head of the CHS are political appointments made by Madrid, and the result has been a change at the head of this organisation.

There has also been a change at the head of the national government delegation in Murcia, with Diego Conesa, former PSOE Mayor of Alhama de Murcia, replacing Francisco Bernabé of the PP. This job, the government delegate to the Region of Murcia, is dictated by whichever party controls the national government, and the delegate looks after the principal concerns of the national government in each of Spain’s Autonomous Communities, or regions, of which Murcia is one of 17. He controls the state police, the Guardia Civil, he is the liaison between the regional and national governments and controls all of the projects which involve the national government, for example, building the AVE railway network, the CHS water supply network, the roads network etc, and his appointment is a powerful, highly visible position.

With local and regional elections now just months away, this swing of power at a national level will have undeniable impacts on projects at a regional level, and already the regional president and new government delegate have clashed publicly over expenditure and projects. The regional government has been working since the last elections to push forward on key projects and is concerned that should they fail to prosper because the new government reduces financing or changes policy, then voters will castigate them at the polls in May.

And for the socialists, this is a big opportunity to consolidate the gains they made in the region during the last elections, a national PSOE government looking favourably on local projects supported by PSOE councils could give a popularity boost just before the elections, increasing the chances of the PSOE councils holding onto their gains, and making it harder for the PP to claw back the councils they lost.

The result will be that the next few months will be a political battle ground and the elections in May will be the hardest fought elections in modern history.

Mazarrón will be a brutal fight, as PP Mayoress Alicia Jiménez is ruling in a minority government, the only reason being that the pot pourri of opposition parties holding the remaining seats disagree to such an extent that they can´t even agree to form a coalition government and take control.

The votes on Camposol could be enough to dictate the direction taken by the next council, so the urbanisation has suddenly become an important battle ground.

The PP council run by former Mayor Francisco Blaya Blaya has been heavily criticised by a regional parliamentary investigation, the principal accusation being that the council was aware of the irregularities committed by the developer and failed to do anything to stop further construction or force the developer to rectify the irregularities before it went into liquidation.

The CHS has fined Mazarrón council 8 million euros for allowing the developer to infill the rambla and restrict its width (causing the floods) and is still awaiting payment of this debt. It also refuses to pay for the problem to be rectified and insists that the council must pay. The council maintains that it is unable to pay and does not have the money to either meet the fine or undertake the necessary rectifications, although maintains that it is willing to oversee the project and facilitate the necessary work. It also, however, refuses to accept responsibility, blaming the bankrupt developer for the irregularities and insisting that it took measures to try and force the developer to rectify the issues.

However, with the developer bankrupt, the problems still remain and although the parliamentary investigation blamed the developer, local council, regional government and CHS for the problems, the political row over who will pay to rectify the damage is now boiling over.

The Camposol Residents Association was invited to attend the visit of the Government Delegate and new head of the CHS this week, and was also present at the meeting between these two bodies and the council, which has been described by one attendee as a “political bunfight.”

Recently the CHS and the council have agreed an alternative route for the rambla which will create a wider channel through which floodwater can flow. The council has paid for the creation of three projects, the final one of which has been selected and agreed by both parties. In order to move the project forward a technical project must be drawn up, which the council must pay for, in order to amend the Plan Parcial and adopt it into the Plan General.

The Mayoress was clearly agitated by the topic of who was going to pay for the works. The press statement put out by the government delegate makes it absolutely clear that the Spanish state expects Mazarrón council to pay for the works. The press statement of the CHS says that the organisation has agreed the route and will do everything possible to assist in the tramitation of the required documentation to assist the town hall to carry out the works….

But the Mayoress vociferously argued her point that Mazarrón CANNOT afford to pay either the 8 million euro fine or pay the estimated 4 million euros it will cost to divert the rambla, and refused to accept any blame for the irregularities, blaming the bankrupt developer. (There is no money from the assets of the developer as the debts were too high and the courts ruled out any malpractice in the running of the company when permitting it to enter into insolvency).

Her only hope is that the regional government can find some way of assisting her to secure a grant rather than a loan, with which to deal with the challenges of resolving the rambla, and other issues on Camposol.

However, should she fail to resolve these issues, fail to find the money required and move the project forward, this will give her critics strong ammunition to criticise her lack of achievement in this area during her period as Mayoress.

Should the PSOE national government assist in resolving the problems that could either lay credit at her feet, or credit at theirs, and at the same time, should the PP regional government assist her in finding the required funds, is there enough time to make visible progress before the elections and claim the credit for resolving the problems.

Finances are strained at all levels; the regional government has record debt, the national government has record debt and Mazarrón council continues to attempt to fund as many projects as possible which will secure the votes of its town residents while fighting its own bulging deficit.

The Camposol Residents Association says it welcomes renewed interest in resolving the problems left behind by the developer, but is frustrated by the lack of progress.

In a statement they expressed their frustration that the working group recommended by the parliamentary commission has not yet been constituted, more than 5 months after March 22nd. They commented that they have heard “lots of promises and words”, seen “a lot of reports” but have seen no tangible action, and want the parties concerned to “stop talking and start working to sort out the problems” as they are concerned that “the urbanisation can´t sit there and wait for another flood which might be fatal on the next occasion.”

The government delegate made his point that both himself and the head of the CHS, had both been in their positions for just 22 days and had a lot of projects to review and examine.

Residents are hoping that political will to decisively resolve the situation before the elections may finally resolve the problems, although are also concerned that yet more promises may be made and not fulfilled, and the issues on Camposol be used for political propaganda without actually delivering the desired-for resolutions to the long-running problems.

And the CRA closed their statement by saying, “financing is not our concern, the work was undertaken illegally and our members who bought homes in good faith are the victims, we just want to see action, not words.”
 

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