A sure sign that the population is growing in peacetime is when the municipal cemetery has to be enlarged. In wartime, that's a different matter.

The Mayor of Salobreña, Javier Ortega, has ordered the building of 52 new burial niches on a 100 sq/m of piece of land at the south-east end of the graveyard. The construction work will also include a small storage area.

Mayor Ortega, said that this action was an emergency measure (what does he know that we don’t) as the cemetery is close to being fully occupied. But even with these extra 52 niches (for the lucky winners) there are plans to build more in the future.

“We needed a rapid solution because of the lack of niches, which is why we opted to gain ourselves time whilst we prepared a bigger enlargement,” he explained.

To make way for the new banks of niches, wall at that end has been demolished so that it can be rebuilt near the irrigation channel. This work has a budget of 85,000 euros that were dragged screaming from the municipal coffers.

All this has to be completed by All Saints Day on the 1st of November, and seeing as the municipal maintenance staff work with the speed of a striking sloth and the reactions of a dead rattlesnake, the bets are on.

Lastly, the future extension of the cemetery will involve 250 to 300 niches but which will require some adjacent land being expropriated.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia – Source: MJ Arrebola/Ideal)

Keywords: Cemetery, Enlargement, Niches, Boundary Wall, Mayor Ortega, Municipal Coffers

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