Nerja sewage plant project at a standstill

THE Mayor of Nerja, Jose Alberto Armijo, complained that plans for a sewage plant in the town are once again at a standstill.

He was told during a meeting with the General Water Management Department in Madrid that this was due to budgetary problems.

In March last year, the Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Water, Josep Puxeu, stated that the sewage plant in Nerja was ‘a priority’ for the Ministry.

And in May this year, the Minister for the Environment, Rosa Aguilar, announced that the project would be assigned in July and start before August.

However, with a delay of four decades from when it was initially planned, there is still no sign of work going ahead. Despite this, the central government still claims it will be ready by 2015.

Armijo said that this new delay was bad news for Nerja and the rest of the Costa del Sol, especially for tourism and the environment, and has requested another meeting with Aguilar who he hopes will be able to help the project see the light.

The project has a budget of €40.9m and will provide a service for 100,000 inhabitants, preventing that raw sewage be pumped into the sea, which would be a point in Nerja’s favour with regards to the tourism trade.