A few days ago, the government team of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, following the cycle of citizen assemblies that have been scheduled for the coming months, held two meetings, given the high demand for attendance, it was decided to hold two sessions on the same day , with the residents of Cumbre del Sol to explain the projects that are being worked on since the town hall to improve the historical deficiencies of urbanization. Between the two sessions, the assistance of some 75 people has been calculated.
The central aspects of the meeting have been asphalt and public lighting. The mayor, Miguel Ángel García, supported by the municipal architect, has explained in the first instance the details of the asphalting plan that will be carried out in Cumbre del Sol and other areas. This action, valued at more than 500.000 euros, includes different asphalt works in the areas of Begonias, Sunflowers, Camelias, Adelfas, Dalias, Encinas, Barranc Roig and Vista Montaña. In addition, horizontal signaling and road painting are included, as well as some improvements such as the installation of protection railings on the ascent to Pueblo Panorama and Barranc Roig.
The municipal architect has indicated the approximate deadlines for this action. It is expected that during the remaining months of this 2021 the work will be put out to tender and that the winning company can begin in early 2022. Regarding the duration of the works, it is estimated that they will not last more than four or five months, for which, if no problems arise, the works will be finished before next summer. Likewise, as he has pointed out, the neighbors will be notified when the work begins in each determined area.
Street lighting
Second, the councilor in charge of the public lighting improvement project, Mayte Roldán, has presented the two parallel actions that are being worked on. After several months of planning and as a result of an energy audit to find out the status of the entire municipal electrical installation, the City Council will invest 250.000 euros in improving the network.
On the one hand, the town hall has obtained a grant from the Valencian Institute of Business Comxicotetiveness (Ivace) to replace a total of 355 conventional streetlights with LED lights in different areas and urbanizations of the municipality. 149.907 euros will be invested, 50% co-financed by the Ivace and by the City Council.
On the other hand, it is expected that by the end of this month the annual contract for the repair, maintenance, conservation and prevention of public lighting installations valued at 100.000 euros will be awarded. This contract will considerably improve the service and shorten the performance times, since, as Roldán has stated, “there will be an electrician dedicated exclusively to the city council every day, not like until now, that the company we worked with had more clients and not I could always attend to faults and deficiencies ”.
The mayor has pointed out that until now, a budget of around 40.000 euros per year has been spent on lighting repairs, less than half of what has been budgeted with the new contract. In addition, only “one-off and spontaneous repairs were carried out without planning, which, weeks later, failed again. With this new contract there will be planning and root problems will be tackled ”.
Miguel Ángel García has also remarked on several occasions that these improvements are the result of a change in internal organization and a good foundation that, among other things, have made it possible to cover the necessary requirements to be eligible for historical European funding grants for the municipality. “These first two years of the legislature we have focused on building a strong foundation and foundation and then achieving much higher results and efficiency levels. We are aware that changes take time and we have not acted as quickly as we would have liked, but thanks to these internal changes, in 2022 we will begin to see many results ”.
A good example of this are the subsidies that the Ivace and IDAE have already granted to Benitatxell for the renovation of streetlights and for the project to regulate vehicle access to the Moraig cove. But they are not the only ones that are expected to be eligible. The first mayor has advanced that, thanks also to the energy audit, when the bases of the call come out, they will soon be able to opt for a new grant from the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) to completely renew the lighting of all the location. According to the audit, to carry out a complete renovation, an investment of more than 600.000 euros would be necessary.
Other aspects that have been discussed in the meetings are the overcrowding of people and vehicles in the coves during the summer; traffic problems at the entrance to the top del Sol derived from the great influx in peak hours that there is to reach the Lady Elizabeth School, with more than 1.500 users among students and teachers; the new urban waste management, on which García has advanced that there will be another meeting to explain the details; fiber optics or flood problems in periods of torrential rains.
