Built in 2011 at a cost of almost 9 million euros Torrevieja’s Social Care Centre remains closed because it still hasn’t been transferred by the Consell into the hands of Torrevieja City Council and it is still not known when it is likely to open.
The Consell say that they cannot open it yet because it “does not meet the legal requirements and also needs some modifications.
The Torrevieja mayor, José Manuel Dolón, explained that the City Council had found three problems when they were going through the process of opening it as an adult centre, family meeting point and supervised children’s centre.
The first is that the property is “not legalised” since “it has not been formally handed”. This procedure has to be carried out by the construction company that erected the building. However, according to Dolón, the architect who was in charge of the project has refused to sign a statement of completion. “It’s a case very similar to the Municipal Theatre,” said Dolon, who blamed the situation on the PP saying “the normal thing is that when the work is finished everything is signed, but it has still not happened.”
The second of the “unpleasant surprises” that have been found is that money is still owed for the construction of the building. The construction company filed an appeal in the courts to claim 245,862 euros as settlement for the works, of which 79,839 was VAT.
The third problem is related to the building plot itself as formal reports were never made, a process that is carried out prior to the commencement of construction work.
The Centre has been built on a municipal plot of 11,152 square meters, divided into 7,630 square metres of garden and 3,522 square metres of accommodation space on the ground floor. The total constructed area is 5,000 square meters which will eventually be used by such local organisations as AFA, ALPE, AMFA, ADIEM and APANEE
However, the mayor was unable to provide any indication of when the building might open.
