The Junta de Andalucía has given the green light to work on the La Herradura paseo for the installation of a separate rain-drainage system and sewage system.

The work has a budget of just under 2.2m euros, which will be funded from the surcharge on domesti water bills for infrastructure improvements, explained the First Councillor for the village, Juan José Ruiz Joya.

The said councillor said that it was “great news with which to kick off 2016,” as it is a very important project designed to eliminate flooding and the disagreeable appearance of sewage given that rain water and sewage use the same evacuation system.

Obviously, to get all the relevant permits to alter the jealously guarded seafront area, which lies within the jurisdiction of Madrid, has been a nightmare. Between 2,000 and 5,000 sq/m of affected land belongs to Costas.

Also the project had to be published in the official provincial gazette to give anybody the chance to raise objections – there weren’t any, either because everybody agreed or because the ones that didn’t hadn’t read the relevant Gaceta Oficial de la Provincia.

So, the Town Hall managed to get permission from all the relevant administrations and get it through the public exposition phase without anybody throwing a spanner in the works.

At the eastern end of the paseo the sewage system under the it will be renewed; if not under the paseo itself, as close to the buildings as possible, and a separate rain-drainage system will be laid.

As for the western end, work will only comprise of laying the rain-drainage system.

So, when is it going to star and how long will it last?

Once the technicians from the Delegación de Medio Ambiente give the go ahead, it will take nine months. Yup, sounds like summer chaos, but maybe not because the First Councillor said that the Town Hall would make it a condition that the work affects the summer season as little as possible. Furthermore, the work will be done in stages rather than having it all up at the same time.

Lastly, the councillor explained that the Town Hall would take advantage of the work to carry out other projects on the Paseo Andrés Segovia to do away with the traffic jams during the summer.

Editorial comment: call me cynical, but it will probably all end in tears, just like every one of the underground parking projects under the Almuñécar paseos.

(News: Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)