Curumbico Scandal

The Consejo Consultivo (Advisory Board) has rejected the claim by the developers constructions above Playa Curumbico, why had sought to blame the Town Hall.

We have reported on the situation before, but summarising the course of events, the development/building company, Almugrana Necar SL (part of Berning Investment INC) began work on an new urbanización right behind Curumbico Beach, which allegedly resulted in a retaining wall that had been in place for over 30 years coming down in 2019.

The company blamed its collapse on sewage water from the housing above, seeping down and weakening the walls structural integrity. As a result the company demanded half a million euros from the Town Hall as it considered it responsible for the collapse.

The resulting landslide left two houses hanging over a drop and put into jeopardy the other 19 houses further up.

Th company considered that the Town Hall had neglected to provide a sewage system for the already existing housing which lead to the collapse and the halting of construction work in detriment of their company.

However, all evidence indicates otherwise. It has been concluded after investigation that a lack of precautionary measures taken by the company before it began digging away near the wall led to its collapse.

The Advisory Board pointed out that the retaining wall had stood in place for over three decades without a problem and that, “curiously” just when the company started excavation work, the collapse occurred.

Neither were any defects reported by Berning Investment INC when it submitted its project in order to obtain a municipal licence.

According to Berning Investment INC in 2013 it repeatedly contacted the Town Hall about sewage seepage and that it had not acted to avoid a possible problem and that the Town Hall had permitted the construction of housing above on the hillside to continue in existence without proper sewage evacuation, which is an environmental problem.

The majority of the said housing, claims the company, started to go up in the 60s and have septic tanks. When the company rebuilt the retaining wall in 2020, the sewage seepage continued, it claimed.

The fact is that the situation between the company, the Town Hall and residents living above the construction work is fraught.

The Town Hall and the Mancomunidad are sorting out the sewage-disposal issue, providing a sewage system for housing on the Barranco de Cabria and Curumbico, aided by a pumping station.

Editorial comment: the developers should never have been given a licence, given the proximity to this semi-secluded beach. The way that the Town Hall got round it was that there had always been a house there, built in the 70s during Franco’s time and before Costas came about with its restrictions on building near the sea. As the house had stood so long, it was allowed to stand, but the Town Hall gave permission to the construction company to turn what was just a house into an urbanización.

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

Tags: Curumbico, Developers, Retaining Wall Collapse, Sewage Seepage, Advisory Board, Berning Investment INC

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