Landowners from Salobreña, Molvízar and Vélez de Benaudalla are far from happy because of the work going on to bring water from Rules down to the coast.
The construction work affects 400 plots of land and 33 hectares and the owners of this land feel that they are getting a raw deal from the Central Government.
For this reason, one of the opposition parties at Salobreña Town Hall, the PP, has put forward a motion, urging the Ministerio de Transición Ecológica, the public utility company, Acuaes and a consultant company involved, to negotiate “a dignified agreement” with the affected landowners.
Of course, the landowners are not happy with what they consider to be a “drastic reduction” in the evaluation of the seized land; i.e., what the Government considers it is worth.
PP Councillor María del Carmen Vílchez claims that landowners will receive 80% less of real land value, when compared with the compulsory purchase payouts for land used for the construction of the A-7.
The A-7 expropriation was paid at around 60 euros per sq/m, whereas the price offered for land used on the pipeline work will be paid at 12 euros per sq/m and as little as four euros per square metre in some cases.
The PP motion is unanimously backed by every party in the Town Council, converting the motion into an institutional declaration. For this reason, the Town Hall has formerly requested that the Ministry reopens a process for the evaluation land prices.
According to a law firm that some landowners have consulted, farmers were asked to sign an accord for the compulsary purchase of their land when the extent of the land that was going to be used was not known. For this reason, they consider that the process has lacked transparency.
Finally, we are not only speaking of land that has been expropriated but also land that has been affected; for instance, where heavy machinery needed access to construction worksite and has damaged it so that it will need to be restored to its original stte when the work is concluded.
(News: Salobrena/Molvizar/Velez de Benaudalla, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)
Tags: Pipeline Work, Rules Dam, Compulsory Purchase, Compensation Price