The City Council is still waiting for the execution project to be drawn up by the Department to obtain the construction license and be able to award the work of the new Health Center
Benidorm invests about 50,000 euros in improvements in Rincón de Loix Health Center
These delays have prevented the tender and award from taking place in 2021 as planned.
Benidorm City Council has invested around 50,000 euros in various improvement actions at Rincón de Loix Health Center, carried out at the end of 2021 and focused on access to the center itself and on the renovation of some spaces that were deteriorated because of the years.
The Mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, the Councilor for Health, Mónica Gómez, and the Councilor for Public Space, José Ramón González de Zárate, have visited the center today to see first-hand the work carried out and there, the first mayor highlighted that the installation "requires continuous maintenance", hence the fact that "these works have been undertaken in the entrances, very necessary for the improvement of the health center, since many patients come with wheelchairs, walkers, crutches , in addition to emergencies that are attended with stretchers by health personnel ”.
The work carried out basically consisted of rebuilding the access ramps to make them wider and more in line with the regulations, as well as creating an access portico and handrails, and placing non-slip flooring. Likewise, the shade building that joins the two buildings of the office has been rebuilt and that protects users from inclement weather; The roofs in both areas have been waterproofed, 'LED' lighting has been installed in the entrances and forced ventilation in the non-ventilated spaces.
In the same way, access to the toilet for people with reduced mobility has been adapted by means of an accessible sliding door and doors and handles have been repaired due to their deterioration. The bad smells in the toilets of the secondary building have also been solved and the painting of several consultations and the main hall has been undertaken.
In total, the investment has amounted to 48,253.23 euros and the execution period has been two months.
The City Council, the mayor said, "has been fulfilling in recent years the commitment we made with the Department to keep these facilities in the best possible condition with a constant investment", an investment that, in the opinion of Pérez "is even more important in the face of the health crisis that we are suffering ”.
That is why the mayor has stressed that the provisional nature of this sanitary facility, which has lasted for several decades, "makes the new Health Center assured by the Ministry of Health and that has been demanded so much for a long time by this City Council and by Benidorm civil society, especially in Rincón de Loix, as well as by the health personnel who provide service in these dependencies ”.
In this sense, Pérez recalled that last June the Local Government Board approved the basic construction project of Rincón de Loix Health Center, which coincided with the announcement by the Ministry that this infrastructure was going to be considered 'strategic' and in line with what was requested by the City Council, “its construction was going to be given priority”, so the future building was included in 'Crèixer +' Plan, and the end of the work was set in 2023.
“Many months later”, the mayor continued, “we are still waiting for the execution project that the Ministry itself has to write and send as a preliminary step to obtaining the building license and bidding for the works”.
Pérez, however, has hoped to "receive this document shortly, so that there are no further delays in the calendar set by the Department." The initial forecast, he recalled, was to tender and award the work before the end of 2021, "something that has not finally happened due to this delay."
The Generalitat's budget for 2021 included an investment of 800,000 euros for this year, which has not been materialized, what led the Ministry to redistribute the cost of the project, 4.3 million euros, in the next two years. Thus, for this 2022 the regional budget includes an item of 1.8 million euros for construction works, leaving the remaining 2.5 million for the following year.
The new Health Center will be located on Zamora Street number 5, on a 3,558-square-meter plot donated by the City Council in 2017 next to "Antonio López" football fields.