There will be no Christmas lights illuminating the villages, pedanias and hamlets around the Orihuela municipality this year. This was confirmed by a ‘smiling’ Councillor of Festivities, Rocío Ortuño, who announced to the press on Monday that only Orihuela City and the Orihuela Costa will be lit up over the festive period.
Despite government promises, more than 30,000 residents who live in the 24 districts that Orihuela governs, will be left “in the dark”. Not even a light bulb will brighten the entrance to any of these towns.
Even so, the two areas to be illuminated will have to wait until next Friday, 15 December, after the delay in putting the contract out to tender, with only one company having submitted an offer, Iluminaciones Granja, from Vega Baja.
The contract, which has been tendered through an abbreviated and simplified open procedure to accelerate its award, will finally be awarded for 50,588 euros (61,175 euros with VAT).
Ortuño said that she wanted to ask “forgiveness” to the residents of the districts “because they are the most affected by this lighting contract.” In so doing, of course, she followed the normal political procedure of blaming everyone but the present government for the current situation.
She said that “they are not the lights that we want nor those that Orihuela deserves, but this year even the lights installed in the centre of Orihuela will be much less spectacular than in previous years, and the lights will also be reduced on the coast.
This is a situation that will lead many residents to make odious comparisons with many other local municipalities, and of course with Torrevieja, where this year’s lighting display is enormous.
“We will work in the coming months to ensure that this does not happen again,” said Ortuño, who stated that Christmas 2024 will be more spectacular than this year’s. “This poisoned dart that the previous council left us will not be repeated,” she said.
Calls for Ortuño’s Resignation
The opposition has not been slow to criticise the situation. The PSOE spokesperson, Carolina Gracia, said that “for the first time, our districts are left without lights, and it is just pathetic that all that Councillor Ortuño can do is ask for forgiveness. They have been in government for six months and their maxim, in the face of these problems, is showing, time after time, their inability to manage.
Gracia has asked the Oriolano mayor, Vegara, to dismiss Rocío Ortuño as head of Festivities. “If the councillor Rocío Ortuño is incapable of managing these problems, she should leave; there are no excuses. She has had over six months to put out to tender the Christmas lights contract and she has failed.
