All work together in Marina Alta

ROSA VILA was one of 17 local mayors who met recently in Pedreguer.
It was the first meeting of the Xarxa d’Alcaldies de la Marina Alta (Marina Alta Town Halls Network) in two years and focused on topics affecting them all, regardless of politics.
Principal concerns were, as before, water resources and the Tren de la Costa train that would follow the coast instead of looping inland between Valencia City and Alicante City.
The mayors also discussed the creation of the Marina Alta’s own tourist brand and the increased depopulation of inland mountain villages.
Little had changed in the two years since the Xarxa’s last meeting when the mayors agreed to ask the Ministry of Public Works in Madrid to reactivate the Tren de la Costa project.
The Marina Alta is still awaiting the outcome of hundreds of appeals lodged by landowners’ objections to the train’s proposed route, as well as approval – or rejection – of the project from the central government’s Environment Ministry.
The current situation is unlikely to improve, those present conceded, not least because of the political instability produced by the absence of a government.
For the moment, the only viable solution was for Marina Alta municipalities to combine their efforts and work together, the 17 mayors admitted