The PSOE leader in Nerja, Luis Peña, claims that the Mayor of Nerja, José Alberto Armijo, is once again deceiving the public over the proposed water treatment plant, questioning, amongst other things, how it can be started with just €2.5 million in the budget for 2013.
He also questions how a project budgeted at over €40 million – with some experts estimating a final cost in the region of €60 to €80 million – could be awarded for €19 million, less than half of the original budget.
Luis Peña says that this will lead to a reduction in the quality of the plant as well as leading to the contractor demanding more money at a later stage in order to complete the project.
However, most people realise that the contract price, the lowest bid in this case, usually bears no relation to the actual cost of a project, with renegotiation of the budget and, often, the completion period, an almost standard element of such construction works.
At least the project has got further in the past year than it has in the previous forty years, and that can only be a good sign.