With just one month to go to Holy Week, and the busy Easter holiday period, the Orihuela Council wants to give its eleven beaches a face lift. This same week, according to municipal sources, the wooden walkways that provide access to the sandy areas will begin to be assembled.

The planks, no I’m not referring to the councillors, are already stacked on the sand, ready for preparation in a municipality where its 16 kilometres of coastline are the main tourist attraction for hundreds of thousands of visitors and holidaymakers every year.

We are told that it is the intention of the council that the award of the beach bar contract will also be ready on time. As we all know, the chiringuitos have remained closed since January of last year after the previous PSOE and Ciudadanos coalition government decided not to extend the contract, which put dozens of people out of work and also resulted in public demonstrations.

The bipartite of PP and Vox, decided last June that they would start the process from scratch both with the contract for the beach bars and with the maintenance of the green areas of the coast. This has been another of the issues that has raised the most complaints among residents and users.

Now the municipal company Ildo will be in charge of the parks and gardens, while in November the beach bars were put out to tender, in a number of different lots, which are currently in the envelope opening phase. “The intention is for them to be ready by Easter,” the Council insists.

However, in case they are not ready on time, they explain, a minimum service is planned for the walkways, the lifeguards and the toilets, which are in high demand by users, so that all are able to function correctly.

Of the 15 offers that have been submitted to the beach bar competition, for a contract period of four years and for an amount of more than 2.5 million euros, one is an agreement for the management of the water sports. The others are all beach bars which are divided into four lots, the most attractive of which are La Caleta and Aguamarina, followed by Cala Bosque, Cala Cerrada and Cala Capitán .

If there are no unforeseen problems, the process will conclude at the end of the month. That is if there are no legal claims that could paralyse the contract, since some of the contract bids did not arrive in time because the portal was not operational.

“But, will three weeks be enough time to prepare the logistics?” ask the Cabo Roig and Lomas Neighbourhood Association, who have already asked the City Council in writing to notify them of the facilities that they can expect to see, especially the toilets, which, although they are already installed, “are old and in very poor condition. ”

The specifications establish that the kiosks, toilets and pergolas of the new service will be transferred by the Council, from the previous contract, having become municipal property. It is also stated in the tender that the successful bidders of each lot will be responsible for any repair and updating (sanding, painting, roof waterproofing work, repairs to toilet cisterns, sinks or any other work that may be necessary), as well as any further maintenance.

Therefore, the transfer document must state the repairs that are to be carried out, which will be the responsibility of the successful bidder.

They have also asked the Coastal Department to begin the work of reviewing and identifying the repairs to be carried out in the toilets, so that they can be addressed and rectified by the successful bidders before the start-up of the service.

According to the information collected by the association, the toilets from the previous beach bars had “quite a few deficiencies, given their age.” Thus, they state, the connections for the intake of running water and the drains suffered frequent breakdowns during the short period in which they were operational, for example, in Cala Capitán.

In addition, the floor was very deteriorated in some toilets, as a result of humidity and water leaks, as well as the toilets, hand dryers, sinks, rubbish bins, cisterns and the paper towel dispensers.

Regarding the improvement of the beaches, they give La Caleta as an example, which “is a disaster in terms of cleanliness, pipework and drainage left out in the open, footbaths in poor condition…”. For this reason, they advocate a comprehensive maintenance plan for the eleven beaches, which “are all in need of a major overhaul.”