With the change of Central Government and a litany of cut backs promised, there is a great deal of concern over the A-7 autovia where it passes through the province of Granada – the only part of this main traffic artery that traverses the whole of the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
Yet while the Granada business sector and residents bite their collective nails, fearing a devastating announcement from Madrid, it is also a time to look back, at the A-7 bridge disaster, as on the 1st of February those considered responsible for the accident will stand trial, at last. More on that later.
At the beginning of February 2011, the then Minister for Public Works (Fomento), Jose Blanco ventured down to Granada and made several promises, one of which was that by June last year the Lobres-Guadafeo would be complete. There mustn’t much cheering when this proved to be accurate, because as it isn’t connected to anything, it still can’t be used.
Of more interest was his promise that by the end of this year, motorists would be able to use the A-7 from Taramay to Carchuna, meaning that the Gorgorach-Puntalón stretch would be finished a put into use. But what is the real state of things at the moment?
Two of the five sections are inactive with a doubtful future awaiting them: the plans for the Carchuna-Castell section are sitting, trembling, on the desk of the Minister for the Environment in Madrid, lacking authorisation until the definitive route is decided – until then, all the heavy machinery is parked up.
As for the Gorgoracha-Puntalón section, which you might remember was set back when excavating machinery struck very unstable rock strata. The re-directing of the road course meant that the budget bloomed out so much that the whole section project had to be re-budgeted and contracted out. This was highly unfortunate because the section was 80% finished when this happened.
Although Isolux Corsan won the contract, worth 39m euros, the definitive adjudication has not been signed – it is hoped that it will be in the coming weeks. Joy upon joy, this means that it has escaped the wrath of Central Government cuts in spending.
The other two sections, one of which is the Taramay-Lobres section, are advancing as planned, even though there was a small rock fall within one of the tunnels on the 20th of December, which has been fixed and the concrete lining of the tunnel is continuing ahead.
The Polopos-Albuñol section is also progressing as planned.
The important thing is, nobody is keener to have the work concluded than the construction companies, because they don’t get paid until they do, under the so-called ‘German Method’ of payment adopted by the Government.
Unfortunately for the property owners, about 80% of the compulsory purchase of land along the route has still not been paid, and the longer it takes, the higher the interest the Government will have to pay, so there is a great deal of concern over this.
The Bridge That Fell
Six workers, five Portuguese and one Gallego, lost there lives at 15.30h on the 7th of November 2005 when the bridge over Río Verde collapsed whilst under constructions – over six years have gone by before somebody has to answer before a judge, which is what will finally happen on the 1st of February. Twelve men stand accused, facing 288 years in prison between them.
Both the Public Prosecutor and the private prosecution filed by the workers unions CCOO & UGT maintain that the six workers did not die because certain bolts became loose, bad soldering or electrical failures, but rather because those that should have been overseeing the safety aspects of the construction work had not done their job properly. Consequently both the combined prosecution bodies are calling for an example to be set when it comes to punishing this incompetence, thus creating a ‘before and an after’ for work-site safety.
We shall be reporting on the public hearing as soon as details are known on our online version of the Seaside Gazette, and in the March, hardcopy issue.
(News: A-7, Costa tropical, Granada, Andalucia)