The question is; whom do you believe? The Government states one thing but the facts on the ground indicate another – the opposite, in fact.

On the 23rd of August the construction company that is responsible for the work on the Puntalón-Carchuna stretch of the A-7, announced that it was laying off workers and closing down activity. This decision was the direct result of a minister’s comment that the company should not expect to get paid until 2015, even if the work were finished on time; i.e. 2012.

Few companies can take that sort of economic setback in their stride and Acciona (the said company) certainly wasn’t going to. They announced that they would lay off everybody by the 10th of September.

One high-ranking, socialist politician described the construction company’s move as ‘blackmail,’ but you can only ask yourself if the said politician would respond, “Of course, no problem,” if he had been told that he would have to wait until 2015 before he got paid. The same provincial politician, Manuel Pezzi, said, “One thing is the job being completed on schedule and another is getting paid for it.” Furthermore, he said that the company had the obligation to complete its contract. It doesn’t appear, however, that the Government has the obligation to honour its side of the contract, according to Sr. Pezzi, at least.

Blackmail or not, it produced a response from the Central Government – a pledge that A-7 would not be put on hold, along with many other infrastructure projects, owing to the severe cut in government spending. Furthermore, the A-7 would be finished by 2012.

The trouble is, nobody believes them. Why is the company still laying people off if the question is solved? The reason is because Acciona doesn’t want words; it wants deeds in the form of a written promise that they will be paid upon completion of works.

But people are just so fed up with it all, and never was this so clear as the spontaneous action taken by drivers between Motril and Torrenueva, who simply decided that enough was enough and decided to drive in convoy at 10-kph along the N-340 between these two towns – on the Friday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Guardia Civil blew a fit and fined them, which they stoically accepted without protest or discussion, considering the price being ‘worth it.’

So let’s take a look at the three stretches of autovía to be completed. Amazingly, the Taramay – Lobres stretch has been motoring along, with work carrying on around the clock in two shifts.

The Gorgoracha-Puntalón was 70% complete before a hitch was discovered that would have resulted in an 80% increase in the budget. For that reason the Government had no other option but to cancel the contract, and put the job out to tender again, with a new budget.

The Puntalón-Carchuna stretch is one of the most important projects because its completion will eliminate the need for coastal traffic to pass through the Torrenueva bottleneck. Unfortunately, this last stretch is the one that Acciona is responsible for and where construction work has ground to a halt. In fact, the only work being carried out there is the collecting up of equipment and its storage. The tunnel mouths will be sealed with the material inside.

So, will the company get the money to carry on, or not?