The first funeral home in Orihuela Costa opened yesterday, Thursday September 18th. Wakes and funerals were previously held in Torrevieja, Pilar de la Horadada, or San Pedro del Pinatar.
This new service is in high demand on the coast and is located in Villamartín Sur, on the corner of Calle Diamante and Amatista, in a residential area surrounded by multi-family residences and opposite to the Leroy Merlin in La Zenia.
With rigorous health rules requiring a minimum distance of 250 metres from residences, it has been a long and complicated procedure that began in 2019 and will end in early 2023, including delays due to Covid. That same year, in September, development began with an 18-month completion deadline, which was eventually extended somewhat.
Specifically, acquiring permits—for both major works and economic activities—took three years, despite the land use being suitable with this aim, on a coastline with limited property, the majority of which is allocated for lucrative residential development. The best-located and productive land, with millions of dollars in earnings to fund projects in the large municipal region, needed two more years to complete the 1,500-square-metre building.
Francisca Samper, manager of Pompas Fúnebres Samper, the third generation of a family business that has been working in Pilar de la Horadada since 1950, explains that it has been a difficult road to make the project a reality. The company opened the Virgen del Pilar funeral home in 1987, the first in the southern part of the province, and installed its own crematorium in 2009.
In this situation, this alternative was not even examined to avoid neighbourhood disapproval, despite the fact that a cremation service is available, along with the option of temporarily storing the ashes. These rental columbariums are located in the courtyard, behind a black wall, with only one urn visible—which is illuminated—when family members visit.
This modality is primarily intended to cater to a predominantly foreign population, as well as to provide a streaming service for ceremonies and to provide meals for after the funeral in accordance with other countries’ traditions.
No cemetery
For the time being, the columbarium somewhat compensates for the absence of a cemetery, which residents have been requesting for 20 years. Local residents are outraged that they must drive 35 kilometres to Orihuela to bury their loved ones.
The sponsoring company’s website provides transportation to the churches and cemeteries chosen by the family for the funeral service.
Orihuela Costa, with 30,000 registered residents, 90,000 for the majority of the year and 150,000 during the summer months, has a more than sufficient and growing stable population share – though this is not represented in the census – to warrant its own cemetery.
The Unidos por la Costa neighbourhood association included this infrastructure in its minimum platform for the most recent municipal elections. The PP even includes the establishment of a civil cemetery for humans and dogs in its May 2023 election program. A basic public service in a community where many people opt to retire but lacks a cemetery for ultimate rest.
Furthermore, Orihuela, with only one cemetery (excluding those in the districts) held by the Church, has reached its limit. In 2014, a plan was developed to establish two secular and municipal cemeteries, one near the town centre and the other on the seaside.
The biggest impediment, once again, is land. To do this, the government team must amend the General Urban Development Plan, which was created in the 1990s, in order to allocate land for this critical public service.
Author: Derek Appleton
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