TSG: You are the first female mayor in the history of Almuñécar, congratulations. Is being Mayor as you expected?

Mayor: Things are never 100% how you expected them to be. It’s a great honour and responsibility to lead a municipal council. The post provides both satisfaction but also frustration for the things you are not able do or everything that people are asking of you.

At the moment the main problem is unemployment and the administration doesn’t have the capacity to absorb all the unemployed. (at present the Town Hall is giving one month contracts on a rotational basis to as many Almuñequeros as possible on public works, such as the work being carried out on the street leading up to the church.)

Really, the economic situation does not permit much public outlay but we would be willing to facilitate things for anybody interested in investing in a project that would create employment.

TSG: Will the attrition against rotational parking (began under the previous mayor) continue?

Mayor: Well, the problem with parking in Almuñécar is that it has always been a problem. At the moment there is public parking that in some ways goes to satisfy that demand but one must take several things into account. The Altillo underground car park is 100% public (rotational) but the underground car parks of Velilla and San Cristobal were built for areas to be sold off for private use, which denies these parking spaces for public use. We are aware of this problem.

The Town Hall owns a considerable amount of space in both which will continue to be available for rotational parking, but we shall have to see if in the future the Town Hall has to sell them off. But we shall have to make an effort to provide alternative parking areas to solve the lack of rotational parking.

TSG: Under the previous administration there was a constant policy of destroying rotational parking to widen the pavements – will you continue with this policy?

Mayor: We, or any responsible administration, cannot continue to diminish rotational parking spaces without providing an alternative. Therefore before eliminating such parking spaces we would make sure that alternative spaces are provided elsewhere.

TSG: This brings us on to Blue Zones. Your administration has already improved the situation by reducing the paying times. We understand that progress in this sense is coupled to existing contracts with the company that runs the Blue Zones expiring, so that new terms and conditions can be laid down. Will there be any more changes along these lines in the near future?

Mayor: We are modifying one of the contracts at the moment as it has expired, but the other one won’t expire until January next year. We shall be reducing the paying hours. We understand, however, that Blue Zones are necessary because parking must be rotational – you just can’t come along and park your car without moving it for a month, for instance. Nevertheless, in the contract that has already expired and is being renegotiated with the company, the times and areas will be reduced.

TSG: Very recently the Plaza de Madrid was turned into a Loading & Unloading area from a normal rotational Blue Zone… has this lost parking space been made up elsewhere?

Mayor: Of course, we swapped two areas on the recommendation of the Policía Local, who considered the existing L&U area too small and not central enough.

TSG: In a town like Almuñécar, where there are no big companies so that self-employed workers make up the vast majority of workers here, do you envisage any help for this sector?

Mayor: We shall try to support any proposal put forward by the business sector in Almuñécar. We are carrying out promotional campaigns, urging Almuñéqueros to spend in Almuñécar, where it is possible. If there’s something that you can’t find here, obviously you will have to look for it elsewhere, but where possible, support our local business when you do your shopping.

TSG: The bus service here hasn’t changed in 30 years – there is a deficient service between Salobreña and Nerja? Can the Town Hall demand a better service from the bus companies?

Mayor: Well, we could ask them but they operate completely outside our competence, basing the services on their viability studies. It seems that there isn’t sufficient demand to maintain a more ample service between Salobreña and Nerja (i.e, operating between Almuñécar and these two towns.) We are certainly not in a position to subsidize such a modification to the existing bus schedules.

TSG: How’s the PGOU going?

Mayor: We all know that the provincial approval of the PGOU was achieved but we are also aware that at the beginning of December the Regional Government approved a regional development plan, so the PGOU will now have to be adapted to that. The trouble is that the regional plan has been approved, but it has not been published, so we don’t know exactly what we are dealing with.

Whatever happens, however, I believe that our PGOU will be definitively signed, stamped and approved during this year, 2012.

TSG: Do you have any news concerning the work on the A-7 between Taramay and Lobres?

Mayor: It seems that certain complaints have been made, claiming that all work had been stopped, which have proved to be completely false…

TSG: Funnily enough, the same accusation was made by your party when the socialist were running the Ministry of Public Works in the Central Government, so it turns out that in both cases the claims were unfounded, which is good, I’m sure you will agree.

But do we have a definite termination date for this particular stretch of the A-7?

Mayor: Well, the new Central Government will have to make a detailed study of where things are and what money is really available, so until they have done that, I don’t think that there will be any announcement on this subject from them.

TSG: Live Music. in other tourist-orientated towns, bars and pubs don’t need to obtain a licence as long as it winds up before midnight – Could the same be permitted in Almuñécar?

Mayor: This is a suggestion, rather than a question?

TSG: Admittedly, it is.

Mayor: We see no inconvenience in that a pub or bar puts on live music as long as the neighbours aren’t put out by it…

TSG: Legally, you can make pretty much as much noise you want, as long as it isn’t after midnight, so if bars and pubs stick to that…

Mayor: OK we will consider it because we understand that any activity that can make Almuñécar more attractive as a tourist town is positive and we should all make an effort to work towards it.

TSG: Would you like to make any points that we haven’t covered?

Mayor: Well, I would just like to finish this interview by asking our citizens to be a little patient because we have taken up office in a very difficult time for all but despite this we are working flat out so that things work out; there are good projects in the pipeline. We shall do our very best with the few resources that we have to hand.

TSG: Thank you very much for your valuable time, Trinidad.

Mayor: You’re welcome, Martin.

Yet here we are now, with the PP conservatives heading the Central Government, and the socialist opposition are proclaiming that work on the A-7 has ground to a halt, workers are being laid off, and it’s all the fault of the conservatives. You can only ask yourself, do our politicians ever wonder just how sick and tired we are of this game?

The fact is that in neither case has work ground to a halt or workers been laid of – progress on the long-awaited A-7 connection between Lobres and Taramay plods on. Will it be completed before the year is out? We can only hope and God preserve us from further austerity cuts, because with the short track record of our new Central Government, when they say they are not going to do something – relax, it means that they are going to do it.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

In fact, the extra money needed would almost have been another 50% of the original budget, so the Government had no other option than to cancel the original contract with the company, find the extra funds and open a new contract up for bidding, which is what has happened. In the interim, almost two years has elapsed.

The original company won the bid again and with a budget of 39-million euros, will complete the section, starting from December and concluding next year. As soon as the Gogoracha-Puntalón section is complete, the same company will commence work on the port, autovia connection.

This means that finally, all of the missing sections are active and working towards completion. Despite the scare over the Taramay-Lobres section, opposition leaders and  business representatives had a tour of the section and confirmed that work continues up there – and is progressing well.

So when, according to the Central Government, will we be able to drive from the western boundary to the eastern boundary of the province, on the A-7? The answer is that motorists will be able to drive from the Málaga provincial boundary to Carchuna  before the end of next year, and then from Carchuna-Castell de Ferro and Polopos-Albuñol by summer 2013.

So, in conclusion, better late than never, and the ways things were going, never was becoming a possibility. The regional opposition leader, Javier Arenas, was already proclaiming that his party would have to complete the A-7, but with this latest development and the actual government finding the funds from God knows where, the PP can only sit back and witness the outgoing PSOE place the A-7 where it passes through Costa Tropical, and the A-44 down from Granada to the coast, in their trophies cabinet.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

The incident occurred at 13.30 on the main roundabout junction onto the autovia for Sierra Nevada. The woman, who was trying to get onto the autovia became stuck on the access ramp. Quite a few drivers expressed their indignation through the tried-and-trusted horn blast, no doubt expressing their view that Saudi Arabia gets it right not allowing women to drive.

The woman, quite naturally, wound down her window and expressed her feelings via the tip of one finger. And there it should have ended, but before the woman could get onto on the ringroad another car pulled up alongside and one of the passengers shoved a pistol through the window at the woman. Just in case she was in any doubt, he shouted, “I’m going to put three bullets in you;” which was a generous amount, considering the crisis and whatnot.

Fortunately, another driver saw what was happening and immediately phoned the Policia Local. Now, you would have thought that that was the waste of a phone call, but believe it or not, the Policia Local rapidly arrived – they couldn’t have been far away, obviously – and chased after the car, finally forcing it to pull over on the hard shoulder of the A-44.

Once they had the culprits down at the police station it became evident that it was an air gun – in which case firing three shots off would have needed a great deal of patience from the woman.

The Billy The Kid in question was a 33-year-old Spaniard with the initials A.J.L.F., who was travelling with his family.  The 25-year-old victim  placed a denuncia for threatening behaviour.

(News: Metropolitan Granada, Granada, Andalucia)

On the 7th of November 2005, a cement-laying bridging section of the structure over the Río Verde gave way, spilling workers 67 metres to the ground below – five of the workers killed were Portuguese. Now, finally, ten people who are considered responsible for this incident, to varying degrees, will sit before a judge.

The hearing will take place in Motril’s Criminal Court Nº1, where it will be decided what actually caused the structure to give way. The Public Prosecutor is recommending between three and a half and four years for each of the accused. The workers union, UGT, is asking for a much harsher sentence; a total of 52 years and 45 years barred from working in the industry for the ten accused, but even that is dwarfed by what the other national union, the CCOO, is asking for: a 288 year prison sentence.

On the day of the accident, a Dutch tourist was standing next to the bridge, taking photographs – he was fascinated by bridging process; as he later explained, because where he comes from, the land is flat. He had finished taking photos on his small ‘holiday-snap’ camera and was getting into his car when a rendering sound shrieked out behind him. He had enough time to snap off two shots. These photographs went around the world, reproduced in newspapers and magazines, as well as shown as stills on prime-time TV.

The man was Fred Nederlof. He approached the Seaside Gazette and asked Georg to handle the distribution and payment for the images, which he did, negotiating the price with media outlets and giving it all to Fred, who made sure the money received went  to the deceased workers’ families.

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

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The Ideal newspaper dedicated a full page to reports from dismissed construction workers and ‘sources close to’ the construction company concerning a looming stoppage to all work on this hitherto ‘golden boy’ stretch of the A-7 autovia. Until then, the only news coming from it was positive, such as the completion of tunnel boring, with 200 workers striving to turn the summer traffic jams into history.

The opposition party and firm favourites in the coming General Elections were immediately up there, tut-tutting and smelling ‘points scoring,’ but the Government quickly solved the problem and calamity was ‘allegedly’ averted.

When the news of lay-offs hit the press on the 26th, the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Association of the Costa Tropical opted for prudent silence, pending development; after all, the Ideal newspaper cited ‘sources close to’ the construction company, which could have been anybodyhalf in the know – it certainly wasn’t an official, signed-&-sealed statement from the company.

The ‘source’ claimed that the company was refusing to go ahead without a certain document from the Government authorising a small modification. Indisputably, however, workers have been dropped on this stretch, so what gives?

Prudence was not the by-word of the opposition party who immediately sent up representatives to the work site. The provincial congresswoman for the PP, Concha de Santa Ana, lamented what was happening on the A-7 and put it down to cuts to the province’s infrastructure projects handed down by the Central Government. Evidently, she has forgotten that her boss and aspirant to the Prime Minister’s office, Marino Rajoy, is calling for greater austerity, pointing out that you can’t spend more than you have. Is she aware of this?

Finally, on the 29th the Ideal ran another full-page article with the title: Work on the A-7 will continue and will not stop.

The Central Government announced the problem had been solved and the construction company, Formento Construcciones y Contratas, considers the affair closed. The socialist provincial congressman said that paperwork for the tunnels is being processed and in the meantime subcontracted workers for tunnel work have been laid off for a couple of days whilst this is sorted. Basically, the tunnel boring has finished, so it’s a change of procedure. Emphasis has shifted to bridge building, where work visibly continues at the normal rhythm, says the Ideal, whilst the tunnels are finished off.

With the elections less than 30 days away, just about anything coming out of politicians’ mouths should be treated as circumspect, regardless from which side of the fence it originates.

The socialists in power in Madrid and Sevilla have more or less assimilated that they will be in the opposition after the General and Regional Elections on the 22nd of November. Therefore, promises can be made without worrying too much about the political comeback if they are not met – somebody else will be taking the flak.

However, it goes without saying that the coast is connected to the city of Granada through the efforts of the socialists, with the conservatives twiddling their thumbs on this issue during the eight years that they controlled the Central Government.

The form of payment for this section of the autovia is interesting because, there is no money to pay it all up front and no construction company is in a suitably healthy financial situation to run with the costs and collect once it is finished (the German method). So the monthly-payment commitment will fall on whoever is in power during the coming 12 months.

(News: Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Instead, the rail connection will pass from Almeria inland,via Guadix, to Granada, before it plunges on all the way down to Algeciras. It makes sense, because it is the cheapest option, as a railway line already exists between Almeria and Granada, which will only need adapting to international gauge and a parallel line laid to cater for simultaneous 2-way traffic, which is not the same as starting from scratch, with cuttings, tunnels, bridges and embankments to be made.

But despite all the sighing and chest beating coming from the Costa Tropical, is a rail link really necessary? Valencia, for example, with its huge Ford motorcar factory, would be stumped if they could only move their new products out, six to a lorry, via road – they need a railway outlet. Algeciras is a monster port by Spanish standards and has an equal need for a bulk-transport outlet, such as only rail can provide.

But Motril is a much smaller affair and a more specialised one, according the the Motril Port Authorities, who won’t be slashing their collective wrists over this setback. What Motril Port needs – and will soon have – is a direct connection to the Mediterranean and Granada-Madrid autovias, A-7 and A-44, respectively.

It has been refreshing to have seen the business sector, provincial Chamber of Commerce and politicians from both sides of the political spectrum pull together for the common cause of getting Motril Port ‘on the map,’ but the reality is that there is simply not enough money to lay infrastructure to everybody’s requirements – Europe is not a bottomless pocket as far as funds go and the 31,700 million euros set aside would disappear just on the Mediterranean link between Almeria and Malaga, let alone suffice for the the central system connecting Badajoz to Alicante via Madrid and the northern system, connecting Valencia to Bilbao – and that’s only Spain within a plan to link over 80 European ports via international gauge railway freight lines.

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

Finally, and not surprisingly, given the proximity of the coming General Elections, the Board of Ministers has given the go ahead for ‘emergency repairs’ to be carried on on the N-340, as well as the A-7/A-44, with a budget of six million euros.

A total of 1.12m euros is going on the N-340, namely between the Punta de la Mona entrance and the tunnel, where one lane has remained closed for most of the year after a rock fall. Also, the ‘buckled road surface’ near the Rancho Rio Verde entrance on the big bend just after the Guardia Civil. Again, one lane has been closed, because the road surface is like a big dipper, where it has been forced up by the moving hillside.

Another 1.6m euros is going on the A-44 where it passes through the municipalities of Motril and Velez Benaudalla, with the building of retaining walls, again hillsides are on the move. As this stretch of the A-44 has only been in existence for two years, at most, these imperfections clearly reflect the haste in which it was built to meet electoral promises.

Further down the coast in the municipalities of Albuñol and Rubite 3.2m euros will be spent on sinking piles and building retaining walls on the A-7 and N-340 where there have been problems with earth movements.

Finally, in Sorvillan and Albuñol, 533,000 euros will be spent on embankments eroded by the sea.

(Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

The Sub-Delegate for the Government, Antonio Cruz, visited the site on the day of the completion of the boring work on one of the tunnels – there’s daylight at the end of the tunnel, and never better said. Sr Cruz announced that the contract for the Gorgoracha-Puntalon stretch will be adjudicated by the end of next month (October 2011).

Sr Cruz claims that all the autovia between Malaga and Carchuna will be put into use by the end of 2012, just in time for the destruction of the Planet Earth, according to the Mayan calendar.

As for the A-7 between Carchuna-Castell and Polopos-Albuñol, he didn’t want to venture a guess, bless him. Sr. Cruz reiterated that they have tried to give priority to the Port of Motril.

Anyway, the tunnel that has finally been completely bored – like the citizens on the Costa Tropical waiting for the said autovia – in the Minilla, which is the one between Taramay and Lobres, two months after the first one reached the same stage.

This advance in the construction work means that the link between Almuñécar (Almunecar) and Lobres is 45% concluded. Bear in mind that a lot of work on the tunnels remains, until they are ready for traffic: the five connecting passages between the tunnels, for example. The stretch still needs a lot of work on the two motorway bridges; one 600-metres long and the other 700.

So, the question is, can drivers expect to be able to connect with the A-44 (Granada-Costa) autovia by the time that next summer begins, or more to the point, before the N-340 slides into the sea? Which it is threatening to do in front of Urb Alfa-Mar.

(News: A-7, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Although three members of the same family were involved in the accident (a couple and their young child) nobody was killed. The mother, who had been travelling in the front passenger seat, had to be cut out of the vehicle. The injured were treated at the scene by a medical unit form Torrox Medical Centre.

According to the driver, the accident occurred after a mechanical failure, which made him lose control, causing the car to hit the safety barrier of the bridge and then roll over before coming to rest on its wheels again.

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