The Councillor for Contracts, Sabina Goretti Galindo, has agreed “in extremis” a last minute extension to the Orihuela Costa Beach Bar Contract for Chiringuitos del Sol
In so doing she has over-ruled her Ciudadanos colleague, and Councillor for Beaches, Antonio Sánchez, who gave the order on 13 December that the beach bars were to close at the end of the year. However, Galindo has said that the extension is only until such time as a new contract has been awarded prior to the start of the summer tourist season.
The decision, signed by the mayor and the general secretary of the council plenary session, which had to be adopted before the end of the year, has been confirmed by the municipal group of the PP against the wishes of its government partner, Ciudadanos (Cs), which is responsible for the management of Beaches.
The extension was agreed just a few hours after the company paid its liabilities for 2020 and 2021 into the municipal account, a sum totalling 1.3 million euros.
Galindo said that her decision was made in the public interest and that it would ensure the economic, tourist activity and the image of Orihuela Costa.
As seems to be increasingly customary with the day to day management of the Orihuela Council, Galindo had failed to inform Cllr Sánchez of her decision, so it was only when he sent a team of municipal workers to clean the public toilets on 1 January, that he found out the Chiringuitos and their staff, were still in situ.
Nevertheless, Sánchez has said that he will continue working on the specifications of the tender document for a new award this summer. He explained that the details of a new contract are not so complicated since the specifications will be very similar to those that are currently in force.
