It is nearly seven years since it was decided to build a new Health Centre in Nerja, with the Junta de Andalucía and the Municipal Council sharing the costs of the project.
The Junta de Andalucía is not discounting the situation whereby it has to fund the project itself if the Nerja Council does not come up with its share of the money. The budget for the centre is €2.7 million and the Junta de Andalucía has actually already handed over 90% of its share of the costs during the intervening period.
For their part, the Nerja Council say that money for the project is assured and is included in various upcoming municipal budgets, but they still argue that the construction of such centres should be the responsibility of the Junta according to the Statute of Autonomy.
The Junta is hoping that the project can, finally, begin this year after numerous delays and changes of location. The current state of play is that the Municipal Council is waiting for approval of the latest change of location. That means that the project is still only at the very early ‘draft’ stage of proceedings with all sorts of approvals and agreements to be reached before the first stone can be laid.
On his visit to Nerja on Tuesday, provincial delegate José Luis Marcos was critical of the lack of progress on the project and, in particular, critical of the failure of the Nerja Council to expedite matters more rapidly.