Long overdue repairs promised

THE central government’s Cabinet has agreed to spend €19.915 million on repairing the Bajo Almanzora desalination plant in Villaricos.

The plant, which cost almost €100 million to build, was inaugurated in 2008 and was intended to guarantee water for Cuevas del Almanzora and the Levante zone.

It functioned for just four years before it was practically destroyed during the disastrous floods of 2012.

“This is the great news we had hoped for,” declared Cuevas mayor Antonio Fernandez Liria.

“It is step nearer to recovering infrastructure that will allow us to count on much-needed water,” he said.  “It answers the requests of agriculture and society in general.”

The desalinated water will be added to the existing water supply system, improving surface water and. above all, subterranean deposits, the Environment Ministry announced.

After seven years of inactivity, with no steps taken to repair the Bajo Almanzora plant, Madrid announced in 2020 that the work would be carried out.

Despite the pandemic and the economic and social obstacles involved, the cost has been included in the central government’s 2021 national Budget.