Politicians demand answers in Axarquia sewage scandal

REPRESENTATIVES from the PSOE and Podemos opposition parties have demanded answers from Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, over Nerja’s controversial sewage treatment plant.

The outrage comes after the company in charge of completing the project, Isolux-Cosan-Corviam, declared banckruptcy, leaving the plant 96 per cent complete with work on the main pumping station yet to begin.

As a result, the plant is unable to open while untreated sewage continues to pour into the sea, posing an ongoing risk to the marine environment.

Provincial delegates Miguel Angel Heredia and Guillermo Diaz have contacted Madrid criticising the latest delays to the works, and the former said:

“The Rajoy government promised that this treatment plant would be fully operational in June 2016, and not only was it not, but now we are back to square one after the company’s bankruptcy.”

Diaz said he wanted answers “once and for all,” asking what the “plan B” is, claiming, “if the government does not have one there will be serious consequences… the only thing visitors and residents of Nerja know for certain is that the works have stopped and the sea remains filthy.” 

In March a pipe burst 400 metres off Burriana Beach, expelling raw waste into the water and causing a ‘geyser’ of sewage to appear, with technicians discovering a second hole while repairing it.

Nerja is the only large resort in Malaga Province to still pour untreated sewage into the sea via underwater pipes on Burriana and Torrecilla beaches.

Waste is normally expelled 1,500 metres out to sea but the leaks have caused it to be expelled much closer to the shore with Infrastructure councillor Jose Maria Rivas blaming “lack of maintenance over many decades.”