Nerja Town Hall has just been handed a condition from the Central Government connected with opening the new sewage-treatment plant.

With only two months to go before the plant goes online – the end of April – negotiations between the Central Government and the Town Hall are far from finalised.

Madrid has spent some 25m euros on the sewage-treatment plant (EDAR) and has insisted that Nerja refunds 7m euros over 25 years in exchange for handing the plant over to the municipal authorities.

This means that Nerja residents will be paying an extra charge or levy on their water bills

The Mayor, José Alberto Armijo (PP), together with other members of the Town Council, participated in a video conference with the Director General of the area waterboard and technicians from the Madrid Ministry, to beat out the terms of the necessary accord.

Mayor Armijo said, “The document represents a damaging, economic proposal for Los Nerjeños and Mareños, even more so seeing as we are in the middle of a crises because we will have to pay the Ministry seven-million euros over the next 25 years,” adding that it was an unexpected and disagreeable surprise, taking into account the impact it would have on the pockets of the locals.

(News: Nerja, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)