Working against the clock to award beach bars at Punta Prima, Cala Estaca, and Cala La Mosca in Orihuela. Although the Coastal Department avoids setting deadlines, there is one administrative operation that will be difficult to complete by the end of the high season.
According to municipal sources, the bid envelopes from the various companies have already been opened, and the Contracting Committee has developed and certified the final report. The winning company must then present paperwork proving that it fits the conditions outlined in its bid. As a preliminary step before the award, the documents will need to be validated again. At this point, the selected bidder’s assembly capacity will define the time frame.
This contract is part of Lot 1, the only one of the four lots that has yet to be awarded following a contentious bidding procedure in which two companies filed appeals after disagreeing with the Contracting Committee’s decision, and the City Council eventually ruled the tender void.
These beach bars have been without this service since January 2023, marking the third consecutive summer they have been shuttered, although they are permitted to operate from April to October.
Punta Prima is also inaccessible to people who require the lift, which is now inoperable, and the tender for its refurbishment has not yet been issued. According to municipal authorities, the council intends to repair it and award a new one as soon as possible using an expedited method. This lift, which was intended to be operational by June 15, was a PP investment in 2010 to solve accessibility difficulties, as access to the beach had previously been via steep stairs.
The 2024 budget already includes the purchase and construction of three additional lifts to provide access to three beaches for people with limited mobility (250,000 euros): one in Punta Prima and two in Barranco Rubio.
Finally, the department led by Manuel Mestre has decided to put the lifts in Barranco Rubio up for separate bidding due to issues with the agreement with the owners’ association. These lifts are placed in the private Miraver building, which dates back to 1966, with the City Council paying the maintenance costs but not owning the property. Neither the City Council nor the firm that was originally in charge of Campoamor’s development, which was first privately owned before being passed to the local government, has discovered the documentation proving that it is municipally owned.
Throughout the year, numerous attempts to formalise an agreement have been unsuccessful. The biggest impediment to reaching an agreement with the homeowners’ association is that the residents are asking for a number of conditions that would incur unexpected costs for the City Council, such as improving the entryway and installing a security camera. To that aim, the council has asked for a full report on the total amount of these expenses, as well as a budget for the study.
After the deal is signed, the two new lifts at Barranco Rubio will be put out to tender. One is working, but the other, which cost €30,000 to fix, has been out of service for the third summer.
The council plans to launch a shuttle service, similar to last year’s service that provided access to the sandbank and upper area of Campoamor for approximately 15,000 people for a month, four hours per day, using a seven-seater minivan from Calle Calderón de la Barca to Lope de Vega.
Mestre then praised the measure as a “success” and vowed to continue providing this service, which cost more than 6,500 euros—at 180 euros per day—for this year’s peak season.
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