There was no political colour behind the meeting at the offices of Aecost in Motril: everybody present had one purpose in mind; protect and promote Costa Tropical.
The business sector, workers unions, farmers – you name it – one by one, put their names to a document that has now been passed on to every town hall on the coast for signatures of their mayors, as well.
The deadline that the mayors face is the 10th of October, because on the 16th of October a meeting in Brussels will decide whether the Costa Tropical will remain on the eternal back burner or, instead, be connected by rail to rest of Europe.
If the decision is taken in Brussels to give the rail link to an inland site, by passing our coast, then Motril port will be the only one on the whole of the Mediterranean coast of Spain that is not connected by rail.
And that rail link is the only thing standing in the way of Motril becoming the prime shipping link with Northern Africa.
This manifesto is not about political posturing, which is why the local mayors are being given the chance to participate in this manifestation of popular will – the message is quite simply: forget the greater glory of your party and put your weight behind the future of our coast.
But this is not only about the Mediterranean rail corridor, but also about other pending infrastructure completion; namely the A-7 autovia and the Rules water-distribution network.
We have an impressive new reservoir that is accumulating much needed water, but with no means to take the water to where it is needed – millions of euros spent and years of waiting, it has all been to no avail.
Three days after the signing of what could be described as an historic manifesto, the provincial headquarters for the socialist party, the PSOE, added their name to the document.
The PSOE has promised to defend the contents of the said document and demands that all the mentioned infrastructure be completed – they said that they would include these demands within their electoral pledge, come the National Elections on the 20th of November this year.
The provincial party spokeswoman, Teresa Jimenez, pointed out that hers was the first party to put their name to it, adding that the PSOE is responsible for the majority of completed infrastructure on the coasts, emphasising that the majority of the Granada-Costa A-44 and the A-7 where it passes through the province, were completed under socialist governments. She belittled the conservative efforts in this department, ridiculing the 3.5km of autovia completed, per year, during the eight years that the PP were in power.
Sr Jimenez appears to have missed the point of the apolitical manifesto; i.e., this is not about political vying for the upcoming elections, but about all pulling together for the future of the province. Whilst nobody would deny that what she claims is true, one can’t help feeling that the adhesion of the PSOE to the manifesto is tailor made to a more-than-likely opposition role just beyond the horizon, where promises and demands can be made with the secure knowledge that they will not have to actually find the funds to carry out the deeds.
(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)