The residential home for the sick and elderly currently under construction in the Almijara urbanisation could finally be completed in March or April of this year.
The project, a dream of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in Nerja, has been under construction for many years now, since 2001 in fact, but the end is finally in sight.
Funding of the €3.3 million project has not been easy. The Nerja Council provided the land for the home and the Nerja Caves Foundation and Ministry of Social Affairs funded the early phases of the project along with generous donations from businesses and residents of Nerja.
In 2008, the Cajamar bank granted a €1.5 million loan to complete the project. The equipping of the building, a four storey block with space for 64 residents, has still to be finalised but at least the structure will be complete. Negotiations are already underway relating to eqipmment.
On a recent visit to Nerja, the Provincial Delegate for Social Affairs offered to set up a day-care centre in the building and also offered to manage the centre in its entirety. The nuns, however, are adamant that although they may consider allowing some sort of sharing, the main objective is to serve the people of Nerja and made it clear that ‘under no circumstances’ would control of the home pass to provincial or regional authorities.
Strange how all sorts of offers come in once the hard work of financing and construction are completed.