Torrevieja City Council has missed all deadlines for delivering initiatives connected to the city’s Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and the digital and sustainable transformation of local urban transport, which have been subsidised by European Next Generation subsidies. On May 28th, the Department of Finance issued a Mayoral resolution authorising the return of the €1,616,753 paid by the Ministry of Transport in August 2023 to implement the projects.
The municipality’s refusal to implement these subsidised investments over four years after initially asking for them has resulted in not just their repayment. It has also resulted in late-payment interest, totalling €106,348, which the municipality must pay despite failing to accomplish any of the proposal’s objectives.
Víctor Costa Mazón, then Director General of Urban Planning, processed the grant application. The Ministry of Transport granted €3.4 million on September 29th, 2021, as part of a resolution adopted in February 2022.
Other projects included acquiring a portion of the new bus fleet for urban transport services and constructing new bus stops. Both were completed using local funds.
On August 8th, 2023, the Spanish government decreased the funding amount and deposited an advance payment of 1.6 million euros into a municipal account, citing the timely submission of motions by the City Council to initiate procedures throughout 2022.
In later months, the municipality was only able to justify the recruitment of technicians to handle the procurement of these building supplies. In July 2024, the Ministry was notified of the “non-execution of the subsidised projects” since the Director General of Urban Planning only delivered two of the six monitoring reports required by the municipality for the majority of the four projects.
In February 2025, the City Council delegated this process to the European Funds Unit, which was established ad hoc to handle these applications. In this case—it is hastening the rest—its creation occurred late.
In March, the technicians assigned to this unit indicated that they had no choice but to reimburse the sum because late payment interest was accruing everyday. They stated that the subsidy was payable until December 31st, 2024. At the time, they sent a written request to the “General Directorate of Urban Planning to expressly and urgently abandon the project, with the warning that late payment interest was accruing.”
As a result, interest rates “continue to increase daily, causing significant economic damage to the Municipal Treasury and consequences for those responsible for the inaction.”
The Director General recognised in his latest report on this topic, issued in December of last year, that deadlines were being missed, but that the Ministry had not formally asked restitution without citing late payment interest.
It was not true
Eduardo Dolón, Torrevieja’s Mayor, has maintained in recent months that this specific subsidy, connected to improvements to the new public transport system, had not been lost despite mounting evidence that the project was certainly behind schedule. In December 2024, he told a regional media outlet that the project will be implemented and that the municipality was on track until the middle of the year.
New transportation
The projects whose money is now subject to repayment were tied to the launch of the new public transport service, which, after an interminable procedure, has now delayed in the bidding process due to a company’s appeal against the specifications.
The City Council failed to process the aid and dismissed the opposition organisation Sueña Torrevieja and the PSOE’s concerns about its loss during plenary sessions.
The councillor insists on implementing the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) next year, despite the lack of necessary funding. He has been announcing this for future times since 2022.
The Torrevieja LEZ relates to the primarily pedestrian space proposed for the new port leisure area and promenades, located between Faleria Street in Eras de la Sal and Orihuela, Ramón Gallud Street, Ramón y Cajal Street, and the waterfront itself. A specialised firm has received an external contract to design the implementation strategy. The City Council has scheduled the pedestrianisation process to align with the extension area, as they prefer a soft LEZ.
This management, along with others now entrusted to experts from other municipal agencies, is a legacy of the then-Director General of Urban Planning, who had a wide range of responsibilities during his four years on Torrevieja City Council. Costa has left Torrevieja City Council to serve as Deputy Director of Urban Planning at Murcia City Council, having completed a number of necessary procedures and contract awards.
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