The Orihuela Costa Association of Entrepreneurs, Avanza, has launched a harsh attack on the local government for having left the coast without chiringuitos, toilets, sunbeds, umbrellas and other beach services.
Its president, Raymond Kearney, said that “the manner in which the service has been paralysed, without providing the coast with any form of alternative, is totally unacceptable”.
He also criticises the councillor for beaches, Luisa Boné, who he said cannot allege ignorance of the contractual processes when she was actually a contract consultant during the last legislature.
Kearney said that the beach bars are an “absolutely essential service on our beaches for our tourism and for the dozens of local companies who supply the main contractor”.
He said that the failure is the responsibility of the whole council starting at the top with the mayor, Emilio Bascuñana, “who is ultimately responsible for what happens in the local administration”.
Meanwhile Chiringuitos del Sol has asked the Council to allow it to reopen the business while the tender process is being prepared. They say that the solution is in the hands of the City Council and would also be “in the public interest” adding that they can quickly resolve a situation that could possibly last for many months, and that would inevitably lead to damage in the Costa’s attempts to renew their 11 Blue Flag Beaches.
The spokesman for the Federation of Associations of Orihuela Costa, Tomás Moreno, said that he blamed both councillors equally, Contracts and Beaches, Paco Sáez (PP) and Luisa Boné (Cs), as well as the staff that work in the two departments. “The fact that the service was abruptly suspended is bad for tourism and for beaches, so we ask the council that it resolves the situation as soon as possible.”
