Politicians, business owners and residents in general, gathered along the N-340 where it passes through Torrenueva to protest at the lack of progress on the Mediterranean motorway (autovia) where it passes through the province of Granada – i.e., the only province in the whole of the Mediterranean coastline of Spain that does not have the A-7 thoroughfare.

The date chosen was the 27th of July, which is the first anniversary of a similar protest.

The thousands of people that turned out to demand the completion of the A-7 also demanded the completion of the water distribution pipework for the Rules Reservoir, as well as a Mediterranean Railway Corridor to link Malaga to Almeria along the coast, about which the Spanish Government is being urged to convince the EU to include the scheme in its Rail Corridor Project.

Whilst, on this occasion, the turn out was inferior to last year, authorities from Almunecar, Motril, Castell de Ferro and La Mamola, hoped that such pressure would further the cause. As a gesture of goodwill to the ‘suffering drivers’ that are habitually caught up in the Torrenueva N-340 bottleneck, they offered bottles of water, together with a leaflet explaining their stance.

It is worth noting that all the authorities present are from PP-controlled towns, hence Salobrena not being represented. Furthermore the Plataforma A-7 considers that the government has not met one of its promises on the completion of the A-7, which is true. However, as not one kilometre of the A-7 was completed during the eight years that the PP were in power, it is arguably hypercritical of the PP Mayors to criticise the PSOE Government for a lack of progress, especially considering that it is widely known that there are simply no funds available.

The years that the PP were in power in Madrid were 1996 to 2004, the latter four years coinciding with the ‘bountiful years,’ yet investment in Granada road communications was lamentable, despite an abundance of funds. The present PSOE Government have ruled since 2004, enjoying until 2008 this bountiful period, but the difference being that the PSOE built most of the A-44 down from Granada to the coast as well as brought the A-7 in from the province of Malaga as far as Almunecar. They have struggled to keep their promises during a time of acute economic hardship.

Summing up, it is very right to demand the completion of the A-7 where it passes through the province, as the N-340 is literally falling a part and completely saturated, but, simply put, the PP have no moral platform from which to point the accusative finger.

(News: Torrenueva/Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)