Benidorm advances in the drafts of 'Edificant Plan' while waiting for the Conselleria to approve the investments in the city

The Benidorm City Council continues to advance in the drafting of the preliminary projects of the proposed actions to be included in the 'Edificant Plan', while it is still waiting for the Ministry of Education to approve the investment and specify which actions will finally have financing. The mayor, Toni Pérez, recalled that "in June 2021 the plenary session unanimously approved the extension of the 'Edificant Plan' and proposed construction and improvement works in 13 educational centres in Benidorm". Some actions, he has pointed out, "received the support of the Municipal School Council" and were transferred to the Ministry, which "to date has not officially responded if it fully or partially accepts this proposal."

After sending the list of actions to the Ministry, "to speed up the procedures as much as possible", the City Council commissioned the drafting of the preliminary projects of the proposed works to be carried out in each of the centres. At this time, "we already have the first three drafts, those corresponding to the CEIP Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Puig Campana and Ausiàs March", which will be reported next Monday in the Town Planning information committee.

The works proposed in these three centres total 5,350,598.11 euros. "We are talking, therefore - the mayor pointed out - of important actions, of adaptation works that are important and necessary to improve the facilities of these three Infant and Primary schools, adapting them to the educational reality of the moment".

Toni Pérez explained that "when proposing the works included in each preliminary project, the demands and indications transferred by the centres themselves have been attended to, as they are the ones who best know the shortcomings or needs of the facilities".
As detailed by the mayor, in the three centres "common needs have been detected, linked above all to accessibility, the state of electrical installations or carpentry, and the deterioration of recreational and sports spaces." To these common needs "are added those specific to each centre".

In the case of Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Toni Pérez recalled that "the City Council already wanted to include it in the first phase of the 'Plan Edificant', with a more ambitious action than the one that was finally carried out by the Conselleria in 2019". "There are still many aspects to improve in these facilities -he added-, and that is why CEIP Vasco Núñez de Balboa is one of the first drafts that has been drawn up, including actions amounting to 1.8 million euros". Among the actions are the renovation of the sports courts and changing rooms, the enhancement of part of the main building, the reform and adaptation of seven bathrooms, the installation of an elevator in the Primary building, the adaptation of the exterior walls and the Children's playground, the comprehensive renovation of the electrical installation or the construction of ramps in all buildings.

The preliminary project for Ausiàs March, amounting to 1.7 million euros, contemplates as a special work the construction of two platforms, generating a multi-sports track and space for cultural events and a connecting area between the two buildings in the centre. Within the adaptation works section, "it is necessary to expand the dining room to meet the real demand of diners" and "also the multipurpose room, incorporating the old caretaker's house for this purpose". In addition, it is planned to enhance the foundations of the two buildings, reinforce the slab of one of them, install elevators in both, create a canopy to join the two buildings, build accessible ramps and renew the roof. and sports courts.

Finally, in Puig Campana, works valued at 1.8 million euros are proposed, among which the expansion of the Early Childhood Education building by nearly 500 square meters stands out. This new space will allow the creation of three more classrooms -so that all the students of the cycle are in the same building-, a multipurpose room and toilets. The rehabilitation of part of the façade, the renovation and conditioning of the sports courts, the installation of solar panels and an elevator in the Primary building, or the creation of a canopy to join the two buildings and accessible ramps are also proposed.

Toni Pérez has indicated that the City Council the intention is to continue drafting the rest of the preliminary projects, but it would be important to know as soon as possible the position of the Department regarding the list of actions proposed by the plenary session, to know if they are going to include in the Edificant Plan all the works or only a part of them, issues that are already clear in the case of other municipalities”.

In this sense, the mayor has advanced that "we have already started the procedures to carry out the preliminary project of a fourth educational centre, which in this case would be CEIP Gabriel Miró". The first procedures, he added, "will be formalized before the end of this month, although we are still waiting for the Generalitat to authorize us to continue in the process, an authorization that we have been waiting for almost a year."