The Orihuela cemetery continues to expand with a further 120 niches planned despite the expansion carried out a year ago due to problems of lack of space for burials.
The management hopes to begin processing the license by the end of this year. The objective is that the cemetery is no longer limited for space with the objective being additional space that will certainly see it through to 2027.
“These are works that are carried out progressively, and as needed,” explained the cemetery manager, José Miguel Hernández. The cemetery is registering around 275 burials each year in niches, of which a large number are in new niches. “We need to have about 300 every two years,” he said.
The much smaller niches that house the funerary urns of those who opt for cremation are still fewer than those requiring a conventional burial. Last year, in the Oriolano cemetery, there were 45 deceased who opted for this modality for which, Hernández said, “there is much more capacity, although it is an option that is now on the rise.”
At the same time, the cemetery is also making investments to repair the oldest galleries, since the cemetery is one of the oldest in the region, opened in 1806. In this sense, there have been galleries that, after recording collapses and landslides, have been had to be torn down and rebuilt, while others are yet to be restored.
