Motril Town Hall has apologised for the closure of the municipal pool owing to health issues on Friday the 4th.

The Mayor, Luisa García Chamorro, was adamant, “If there is something that characterises this administration, it is its unity, which is why we stand together, confronting this problem, facing us.”

She expressed her unconditional support for the Councillor for Sports over this problem, blaming instead the previous administration, despite her party having been in power for the last four years.

So what’s wrong?

According to the Councillor for Sports, Daniel Ortega, the problem is that the temperature of the air is lower than that of the water, which is producing excessive humidity. The facilities were inspected by the regional health authorities and Motril was given 48 hours to rectify the situation. He explained that sorting it out in 48 hours was impossible so they closed down the municipal swimming pool last Friday.

What is causing this problem is the air condition system is on the blink (not functioning correctly) and to replace it would cost 180,000 euros.

In 2021 the Town Hall awarded a contract for a company to overhaul the boilers (which heat the water) and a complete overhaul of the installations using EU funding (80% grant and 20% municipal funding) but the Town Hall claims that the company that won the contract fell down on the job.

This year they tried again, but the company that won the contract pulled out because the price of material was more expensive than calculated in 2021 under the contractural terms and conditions. They should have started last month on the 15th.

The Town Hall decided to find the extra funding and put the contract up for bidding in January next year, but the inspectors decided enough was enough, “shut it down and fix it.”

Editorial comment:  if the opposition had been in power when this happened, the present governing party would be screaming blue murder about incompetence, etc, etc. Furthermore, Councillor Escámez said that the problem goes back 10 years, yet that is precisely what he said back in 2010 when he was Vice Mayor in the socialist administration before jumping ship in 2019. The Mayor’s party won an absolute majority in 2011, but didn’t fix the problem at the time, either.

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