Alicante will pay interest for the delay in paying public works invoices

The Alicante City Council has accepted up to four files in one day to pay late fees on bills for projects from 2020, 2021, and 2022. The Local Governing Board often has to deal with this kind of thing, and Luis Barcala’s administration wants to cut down on it. “We are looking into what is happening,” said Manuel Villar, the city’s deputy mayor, on Tuesday.

This time, the total cost is more than €34,000, spread out over four contracts: three for public works and one for services. The late payments were for the renovation work on Calle Marqués de Molins (2022), the improvements to the urbanisation and accessibility on Calle San Mateo between Manila Square and Pío XII Square (2021), the improvements to the road system on Calle Padre Esplá, from Calle Ingeniero Canales to the Clara Forner Periodista roundabout (2020), and the management service for the Virgen del Remedio Neighbourhood Rehabilitation Office, which was funded by the European Union (2022).

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Interest on late payments

Because of delays in these contracts, the city will have to pay interest on amounts ranging from €26.97 for Marqués de Molins to €25,155.39 for Padre Esplá. This also includes €5,333.61 for San Mateo and €3,733 for the agency that helps with restoration initiatives in the North Zone. But these aren’t the only times that Alicante will have to pay a “extra” fee.

The Local Governing Board has also agreed to pay 230,000 euros to the firms that worked on Jijona Avenue, which is another project for 2022. In this case, the file suggests that credit should be given outside of court for the duties taken on in the project. This includes two bills for work done in prior years that were not paid for because they were not completed against the annual budget they were supposed to be paid for.

The first payment, for €214,675.16, is for work certification number 18, while the second payment, for €20,545.85, is for the project’s safety management and coordination contract. Because the project was delayed by more than a year, the City Council had to adjust how it was funded. They had to give up more than one million euros in funding from the European Regional Development Fund. It was then suggested that the bank loan given in June 2024 pay both amounts, but the money wasn’t accessible at the time of accrual, thus it ended up

Manuel Villar, the city’s deputy mayor, talked about the problem that happens a lot in the files of the Local Governing Board this Tuesday. The Popular Party councillor said they are looking into what happened and admitted that “obviously, it’s not the norm.” They also promised, “We’re going to try to minimise this as much as possible.”

Works in case of emergency

The City Council also agreed this week to pay another 72,000 euros for work done in 2023. In this case, it was for emergency repairs done for health reasons since the building on Calle Senador Roque Calpena was flooded with sewage, and part of the floor collapsed, making it unsafe.

Because the owners of the properties stated above did not do their obligation to keep them up, and because public health and safety needed to be protected, an emergency enforcement operation was started. The City Council agreed to do the repairs that needed to be done and then asked the owners of the building that was affected to pay them back.

Author: Derek Appleton