Benidorm demands the Government of Spain not to cut the flow of the Tajo-Segura transfer

The plenary session of the Benidorm City Council has unanimously demanded that the Government of Spain "not cut the flow of water in the Tajo-Segura transfer", also claiming "the validity" of it for "the development and progress of the Spanish southeast". The motion of the Board of Spokespersons approved today also includes "urging the Generalitat Valenciana to join in the defence" of the transfer and to oppose the increase in the ecological flows of the Tagus, which in practice "represent a reduction of the Tagus-Segura transfer of 105 hm3/year”.
This plenary agreement comes after the Government of Spain has proposed "a new hydrological planning" for the 2022-2027 period that "if approved, will mean a reduction in flows available for irrigation." A measure “without technical, political and hydraulic justification, with negative consequences for the future of companies and employment”.
Thus, it is argued that the reduction of 105 cubic hectometers of water per year -100,000 million litres-, "will bring about a loss of 15.62% of the irrigated area that should stop being irrigated and go to dry land or abandon exploitation. agrarian”. This translates into "the loss of some 27,314 hectares, a condemnation of the countryside, farmers and the agricultural sector of the province of Alicante."
According to the motion, the patrimonial loss derived from this situation would exceed 5,300 million euros, to which should be added: "the costs derived from the dismissal of some 15,322 workers, adding the economic benefits derived from the loss of their employment".
In the case of the province of Alicante, "it would mean the loss of some 6,000 direct jobs, a figure similar to the number of workers on the Ford payroll in Almussafes." "This consequence - the motion continues - is unacceptable and unsustainable for a province so hard hit by the consequences of the health crisis, from which it has not yet recovered".
After emphasizing "the efficiency of crops irrigated with the waters of the Tajo-Segura Transfer", it refers to the fact that "it is scientifically proven that lower ecological flows do not mean any risk to the health of the Tagus River", and it is emphasized that "this new blow to the agricultural sector" in the province of Alicante is incomprehensible.
The City Council has emphasized that in its 43-year history, this infrastructure "has proven to be essential for the provinces of Almería, Murcia and Alicante, being vital for the social and economic support of these regions", as well as a reflection of " solidarity” between territories and “guarantee to avoid desertification”.
In the same extraordinary session, the agreement of the Board of Spokespersons to declare the 'Pedro Zaragoza Orts Year' coinciding with the centenary of his birth was unanimously ratified to "remember and disseminate his figure, works, actions and legacy", and establish the periodicity of this event until May 14, 2023, and the opening ceremony of this celebration was held yesterday.
Favorite Son of Benidorm, his figure and performance were key to the configuration of modern Benidorm, fundamentally in the tourist and urban areas.
As the motion establishes, "because of his life, his works and his commitments to the people and people of Benidorm" he was "a singular and unrepeatable person". He was also a "defender of the region and the province", as well as a "fundamental supporter of municipalism and defender of the financing of tourist municipalities".
Born on May 15, 1922, in Benidorm, after training in Alicante and the Barcelona Nautical School, he developed various jobs as a travelling salesman and in the business world. After the death of his father, he returned to Benidorm as director of the Caja de Ahorros del Sureste de España, accessing the Mayor's Office on December 10, 1950, and holding his position until the summer of 1966.
Among the most outstanding events of his management is the bringing of drinking water to Benidorm, a fact that recalls the stone placed in 1960 in the Elche Park fountain with the inscription "Illusion is also lived"; or carrying out a General Urban Planning Plan that "defined a risky, futuristic and innovative urban concept" and that was a model for all the tourist municipalities of Spain "by defending the beaches like no other point on the Mediterranean coast".
In his commitment to tourism, for which he found the involvement of the people of Benidorm, Pedro Zaragoza "knew how to find and develop the most sensational promotion formulas", "inventing a highly effective form of direct marketing".
“Attentive to trends and with a vision of the future, he did not oppose the use of bikinis on the beaches” and “supported the celebration of a Song Festival” that “capitalized on national and international attention” and that “even today is a successful benchmark.
A restless person, after finishing his political stage he graduated in Law, specializing in urban planning, and later graduated in Tourism, being an honorary professor at the School of Tourism. In the last stretch of his life, he also began studying Journalism.
Throughout his career he collaborated with different media and made various publications, highlighting 'This will be Benidorm' (1955). He always lived closely with the culture and traditions of Benidorm, as well as the rest of the province of which he was a great defender from his responsibility as president of the Provincial Council.
Probably, he is “the only Spaniard in possession of Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals of Tourist Merit”.
By a large majority, the plenary session has approved a budget modification to inject 399,500 euros into the Departments of Historical Heritage and Culture, Public Space and Youth to carry out planned activities and expenses. As explained by the Councilor for the Treasury, Aída García Mayor, these resources "come from the Remaining Treasury", which come from the savings achieved in 2021 "thanks to the good management carried out".
García Mayor explained that, based on the regulations, due to "the decrease in general income" it was necessary to apply "cuts in chapter 2", knowing that they could be provided with resources as soon as the Treasury Remaining was available. The mayor has stressed that this budget modification "has the favourable approval of the Municipal Intervention", and has added that these 399,500 euros "we are going to allocate it where it is needed" thus fulfilling "the word given by the government".
Finally, by the majority, the expiration of the file initiated in September 2021 of ex officio review of a series of agreements signed in 2003 about the APR-7 has been declared as null and void acts. Immediately afterwards, it has been agreed to initiate a new file and incorporate all the existing reports and documentation into it. The mayor of Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, explained that within the review file, a report will also be requested from the Consell Jurídic Consultiu (CJC).