The Province of Granada seems to be receiving one piece of bad news after another. First of all it was the negative from Brussels to route the Mediterranean rail-freight network via Costa Tropical, leaving Motril port without a rail connection, and then on the 26th of October, it was announced that the autovia construction between Taramay and Salobreña had seemingly ground to a halt.

The Ideal newspaper dedicated a full page to reports from dismissed construction workers and ‘sources close to’ the construction company concerning a looming stoppage to all work on this hitherto ‘golden boy’ stretch of the A-7 autovia. Until then, the only news coming from it was positive, such as the completion of tunnel boring, with 200 workers striving to turn the summer traffic jams into history.

The opposition party and firm favourites in the coming General Elections were immediately up there, tut-tutting and smelling ‘points scoring,’ but the Government quickly solved the problem and calamity was ‘allegedly’ averted.

When the news of lay-offs hit the press on the 26th, the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Association of the Costa Tropical opted for prudent silence, pending development; after all, the Ideal newspaper cited ‘sources close to’ the construction company, which could have been anybodyhalf in the know – it certainly wasn’t an official, signed-&-sealed statement from the company.

The ‘source’ claimed that the company was refusing to go ahead without a certain document from the Government authorising a small modification. Indisputably, however, workers have been dropped on this stretch, so what gives?

Prudence was not the by-word of the opposition party who immediately sent up representatives to the work site. The provincial congresswoman for the PP, Concha de Santa Ana, lamented what was happening on the A-7 and put it down to cuts to the province’s infrastructure projects handed down by the Central Government. Evidently, she has forgotten that her boss and aspirant to the Prime Minister’s office, Marino Rajoy, is calling for greater austerity, pointing out that you can’t spend more than you have. Is she aware of this?

Finally, on the 29th the Ideal ran another full-page article with the title: Work on the A-7 will continue and will not stop.

The Central Government announced the problem had been solved and the construction company, Formento Construcciones y Contratas, considers the affair closed. The socialist provincial congressman said that paperwork for the tunnels is being processed and in the meantime subcontracted workers for tunnel work have been laid off for a couple of days whilst this is sorted. Basically, the tunnel boring has finished, so it’s a change of procedure. Emphasis has shifted to bridge building, where work visibly continues at the normal rhythm, says the Ideal, whilst the tunnels are finished off.

With the elections less than 30 days away, just about anything coming out of politicians’ mouths should be treated as circumspect, regardless from which side of the fence it originates.

The socialists in power in Madrid and Sevilla have more or less assimilated that they will be in the opposition after the General and Regional Elections on the 22nd of November. Therefore, promises can be made without worrying too much about the political comeback if they are not met – somebody else will be taking the flak.

However, it goes without saying that the coast is connected to the city of Granada through the efforts of the socialists, with the conservatives twiddling their thumbs on this issue during the eight years that they controlled the Central Government.

The form of payment for this section of the autovia is interesting because, there is no money to pay it all up front and no construction company is in a suitably healthy financial situation to run with the costs and collect once it is finished (the German method). So the monthly-payment commitment will fall on whoever is in power during the coming 12 months.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)