The reason for the contradictory heading is because although the mission of the Governmental Sub-Delegate for Granada, Santiago Pérez, was to reassure the residents of the Costa Tropical that the new conservative government would give priority to the completion of the A-7 autovia, the wording wasn’t actually that reassuring.

His main message was to reassure us that the new Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, was putting his weight behind the coastal infrastructure of the province of Granada. However, the Sub-Delegate admitted that he was worried over the situation of the A-7, because as well as a large pay-out coming up for most of the sections that are nearing completion, the compulsory-purchase payments haven’t been made yet, either. Both financial hurdles, he put down to the “inheritance left by the previous socialist government.”

The fact is that the payment arrangement with the construction companies is a paid-upon-completition system, and they are nearing completion. The new government’s problem is that it is they who have to find the money.

You can be pretty certain that if the construction companies even suspect that they might have problems getting paid, then they will down tools immediately and everything will grind to a halt.

The other troubling terminology used by the Sub-Delegate was that the completion of the A-7, the rail corridor and port development were the priorities of the Government in the “following years.” As far as the A-7 is concerned, “following years” does not sound too positive as the completion date for the Taramay-Lobres section is supposed to be this year…