As Vanessa has mentioned above, the road works on Lanjarón’s main street continues to drag on in waterlogged obstinacy. The barrage of rain is an obvious reason for this delay, although if rain stopped work in a place with a climate like the UK, nothing would ever get built there, would it?
However, such a self-evident cause for delay won’t stop an opposition party from using it as a stick with which to beat a ruling party, and the chief opposition party of Lanjarón, the PP, is no exception. They say that the hotels and other businesses are beginning to feel the pinch caused by this drawn-out road works. They claim that the delay is due to the ‘inept, passive and pernicious’ way the PSOE ruling party has been handling it.
They point out – and many might agree – that this project that has a budget of half a million euros and has been dragging on for over six months was unnecessary, or better said, not a priority. The Avenida de la Alpujarra, they say, was in good nick anyway. Furthermore, the original layout permitted two-way traffic, which the new one will not.
Lastly, the PP alleges that the pavements are being endlessly redesigned, with one stretch being completed and then ripped up again virtually the next day.
To put this into perspective – and this is not to agree or disagree with the local PP – the selfsame thing is happening in Almuñécar and Motril, whose main thoroughfares have undergone, or are undergoing, similar facelifts, thanks to Central Government’s Plan E funds. In Motril, conversely, it is the PSOE that are berating the governing PP for needlessly changing a perfectly functioning main street, Avenida de Salobreña, when there are more urgent infrastructure projects outstanding. They point out that more jobs have been lost than created, even though the whole purpose of the Plan E funds is to help the local work market. Meanwhile over in Almuñécar, both the PP and the PSOE are accusing the ruling CA (Benavides) party of precisely the same sins over the Avenida de Andalucía.
The fact is, with an eye on the looming local elections, ruling parties are more concerned about creating something ostentatious, thus vote catching, rather than necessary but invisible (subterranean infrastructure renewal).