Benidorm has approved an extra €275,000 for the enlargement of the San Jaime cemetery, which was finished a year ago. This makes the entire cost of the expansion €3.7 million, or $600,000. The project has made the cemetery twice as big.
The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party) stated that “not a week goes by without the people of Benidorm having to pay yet another cost overrun for a project carried out by Mayor Toni Pérez.” The People’s Party (PP) said that the rise was due to problems the central government was causing with the project.
The Socialist municipal group has spoken out against the Governing Board’s decision to approve an exceptional price change of €275,143 for the cemetery building contract. Cristina Escoda, a spokesperson for the Socialist Party, said, “This case shows once again how the PP does business with public works and contracts.”
“This is just another example of the terrible management of a government led by Toni Pérez, which allowed this extra spending almost a year after the work was done.”
Escoda said that the PP government had already accepted a cost overrun of 307,000 euros in February 2023 for the cemetery expansion. The cost increased from 3.1 million euros to 3,460,030.11 euros, which was 9.75% more than the original approved price.
The City Council will pay €3,735,173 for the project after this last increment. The councilwoman went on to say that the Contracting Department’s proposal shows that the contract was signed on November 22nd, 2021, the work was finished on December 19th, 2024, and the company that won the bid sent in three price changes, as required by Royal Legislative Decree 3/2022.
Other projects that went over budget when the PP was in power
The PSOE’s spokeswoman in Benidorm has said that “the situation is becoming more and more like the worst time of waste and grandiose projects under the PP governments in the city and the Valencian Community.”
He then talked about some of these projects that cost more under the PP governments in Benidorm. For example, the Town Hall building was awarded 10.9 million euros but ended up costing 21.5 million euros, which is a 96.65% overcharge. The Palau d’Esports l’Illa went from 9.3 million euros to 22 million euros, which is a 136% overcharge. The Bus Station was tendered for 5.8 million euros but is now worth 24.5 million euros, which is a 415% increase.
The spokeswoman also talked about additional initiatives that Toni Pérez worked on as mayor that went over budget:
3 million euros to fix up Avenida Mediterráneo
400,000 euros for the Leonor Canalejas Multipurpose Pavilion
200,000 euros for the Spanish Navy Low Emission Zone
Pavilion Raúl Mesa: 300,000 euros
225,000 euros for the West Footbridge
428,000 euros for a youth hostel
Campos Hermanos Martínez Munuera: 300,000 euros
Aula Del Mar: 147,000 euros
200,000 euros for the Els Tolls renaturalisation works
Works to make things easier to get to: 121,000 euros.
He said, “This is yet another example of the terrible management of a government led by Toni Pérez, which approved this extra spending almost a year after the work was done and more than two years after the company’s first request for a price review.” Lastly, the socialist leader said that this is a “new example of the absolute lack of control to which the mayor has subjected the City Council,” and he told the mayor to stop running things this way because it has “cost all citizens many millions.”
Replica of the PP
After this complaint, the People’s Party (PP) issued a statement in which their spokesperson, Lourdes Caselles, said, “The central government’s obstacles to the expansion of the Sant Jaume Cemetery have forced changes to the project and caused delays that have led to price increases.” The PP said that portion of the cemetery is only a few meters from the N-332 national highway, which is under the control of the federal government. The Ministry of Public Works and the Júcar River Basin Authority have both made demands on these works that were not planned for at the start of the project.
Lourdes Caselles — A representative for the PP of Benidorm Caselles said, “The demands of both the Ministry of Public Works and the Júcar River Basin Authority on these works have forced us to change the project and add requirements that were not originally planned.” He also said, “This has caused delays at a time when prices are constantly rising and are obviously not the same as when the work was planned, valued, and awarded.”
Roundabout
There is also a project going on a few metres from the cemetery that impacts it. The N-332 roundabout is being built to connect the industrial park with the area known as Vial Discotecas. At this point, the councillor said, “This is a project in which we see a clear failure of duty by the central government. It has been imposing new conditions for years and has refused to fund it, even though it is on a road that is completely and exclusively under its control and that it has repeatedly refused to give to us, as it has done with other neighbouring municipalities.” So, the councilwoman told the socialist group to “stop attacking the local government and instead demand that the central government and its president, Pedro Sánchez, and especially his Ministry of Public Works, stop putting obstacles in the way of everything related to Benidorm and at least take responsibility for the work and the money that goes with it.”
The spokesperson for the Popular Party, on the other hand, said again that “Article 205 of the Public Sector Contracts Law deals with project changes caused by extra services, unexpected events, and changes that aren’t significant.” So, “this is not a cost overrun, no matter how much the Socialists say it is.” Instead, it is procedures that are required by law and have been checked and approved by city workers.
A representative of the local government said, “It is exactly the socialist group and Ms. Escoda who use words like ‘lack of control’ or ‘waste,’ when she herself was part of a government team and management investigated by the courts for an alleged misappropriation of more than 4 million euros of public money through nepotism for family members and friends.”
Lastly, he said that “the alleged cost overruns that the PSOE blames on the People’s Party were for doing work that was for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” He said, “There is a big difference between what we did and what others seem to have done.”
Author: Derek Appleton
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