No doubt wanting to avoid more criticism after the fiasco of Christmas, Orihuela town hall has already published the tender for a micro-contract to provide festive lighting for the Medieval Market in February.
However, the festivities department may be sat with fingers crossed and pleading with a higher mythical body that there are no issues with the contract, as the time required for the tender process to be completed expires immediately before the event is due to take place, and so there would be no time for problems which might develop, and the winning company would have to immediately spring into action.
The contract has a base budget of 54,450 euro (without taxes), divided into two lots: one for the Medieval Market, whose lighting is valued at 49,017 euro (IVA included), and also a second lot for Semana Santa, valued at 16,867 euro (with IVA). An amount in both cases less than that allocated to Christmas, which usually has the highest expense and for which 61,211.48 euro have been spent.
The specifications establish for the Medieval Market the deployment of three LED lighting signs, 113 200-watt LED projectors, 110 single-phase and two three-phase panels, which will be available along the route, which usually extends from the Plaza de Santiago to Santo Domingo, crossing the entire historic centre.
In the interest of authenticity, after extensive research (we Googled it), there is no evidence of LED lighting being used in medieval times.
For easter, the deployment is smaller. It consists of three LED lighting signs, 122 200-watt projectors and three single-phase panels that are distributed along the streets that the processions cross, La Glorieta and some loose signs at entrances to the city on calles Obispo Rocamora, Palmeral and Ociopía.
Apart from the timing stress of the medieval market, the benefit for Easter is that it would mean that event is planned and processed in more time.
The previous contract, which dated from the government of Emilio Bascuñana and included the entire festive calendar, ended its last extension last June and the previous councillor of Festivities, Antonio Sánchez, did not put out a new one to tender before his departure in June.
The current councillor, Rocío Ortuño, who faced off a vote of no confidence, has not offered details of when this new contract could be in place, but no doubt hopes it will not lead to the troubles she faced for the Moors and Christians, Monserrate festivals, and now Christmas.
