PP demands more investment from Madrid to improve Xàbia and the Marina Alta
Rosa Cardona claims that “zero euros” has been allocated for Xàbia and demands the reopening of Ambolo and investments for the coastal path, amongst others.
Monday 24th October 2022 – Mike Smith
Source: La Marina Plaza
The Partido Popular (PP) in Alicante have called on the Spanish Government to invest millions in Xàbia to correct what they call a great “injustice” in that Madrid has allocated “zero euros” to the second most populated municipality in the Marina Alta region.
The spokesperson of the Xàbia branch of the PP, Rosa Cardona, has claimed that “Madrid has a debt with Xàbia since the beginning of 2020 when it did not make any contribution to repair the damage caused by Storm Gloria” and added that the budget for 2023 should include at least six investments for the town, including the regeneration of the coastline to avoid the increasingly dramatic effects of storms due to climate change and the re-opening of the Cala Ambolo, one of the most iconic coves in Xàbia which has been officially closed for years due to the danger of landslides.
Cardona was speaking in Xàbia during the visit of PP provincial representatives César Sánchez, national deputy, and regional coordinator Arturo Poquet, who are engaged in a special tour through all the regions of the province of Alicante to confirm that the budgets that the Spanish Government is developing for 2023 are what they consider to be “the worst in history”.
Amongst the other investments, Cardona demanded the necessary support to finally develop a coastal path along the Muntanyar I linking the areas of Duanes de la Mar and Arenal as well as an improvement in communications by road, calling for a connection with the AP-7 near Gata de Gorgos, explaining that the municipality is currently “isolated” and that a new link with the national motorway network would served the “hundreds of people who enter or leave Xàbia for work or tourism”. In addition, she highlighted that these transport issues are “causing many companies to leave”, a diaspora that is widen by “our lack of industrial land”.
Indeed, César Sánchez claimed that “there is not single strategic project for the Marina Alta beyond the conclusion of the Benissa bypass”.
Arturo Poquet claimed that the investments by the Government in the Marina Alta are “humiliating” and even worse than 2022 which, he says, “demonstrates the weakness of Ximo Puig who has little weight with Madrid”. He alluded to the project for the Coastal Train – Tren de la Costa – which continues to be paralysed due to a “tiny investment” of some 142,000 euros which has forced Carlos Mazón, the president of the Provinicial Couincil, to commit himself to a project that is “more than necessary”.
He added that the Marina Alta is “the worst communicated region” in the province and gave an example of a student from Gata de Gorgos who travels three hours to the University of Alicante, whilst a young person from Xàbia who wants to visit a friend in Campello would have to travel for “longer than a flight between Madrid and London”. All this, he added that the AP-7 could once again be a toll road by 2024.
The PP said that it will be presenting amendments in Madrid to try and include pending investments, including some 55 million euros in rail transport, such as the contribution for the Tren de la Costa to link Gandía-Oliva-Dénia and another two million euros for the regeneration of the coastline.
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