The governing council of Almuñécar has approved the decision to cancel the contract with the construction company that is supposed to be doing up Plaza de Abderramán.

This square, also known as the Plaza de San Cristóbal has been fenced off and turned into a works site since May, hence the Mayor finally cancelling the contract owing to the failure of the said company to finish the work within the agreed period.

“Of course, the Town Hall, as soon as the procedure for terminating the contract has begun, will do all that is necessary so that the work can be restarted and completed,” said Mayor Ruiz Joya.

Work began this morning to secure the building site; i.e., make it safe and then finish the path that leads to different business on the square

Once this safety work concludes, the square will be fenced off with proper fencing instead of worksite temporary fencing. After that, the Town Hall will find a different company to finish it.

Editorial comment: Business facing onto this square have lost any chance of summer trade – it has been a disaster, especially the hotel. Why it took so long for the Town Hall to get its finger out and fire the company before the summer began, is a mystery.

It has long been a practice for construction companies to sign a contract with a late-completion-penalty clause and then once started move their workers onto a more lucrative job, knowing that the money made on this new task more than compensates for any penalty payment that they might have to pay to a town hall. More often than not, they have “friends” in a town hall who will “look the other way.” We are not stating that this is the case of Almuñécar Town Hall.

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