The City Council already approved the same request in October 2020, but since then there has been no response
Benidorm once again requests Fomento to transfer ownership of the section of the N-332 as it passes through the city
González de Zárate affirms that the Government "does not think about Benidorm" and recalls that other municipalities were granted
Benidorm City Council will once again request the Ministry of Public Works for the transfer of free ownership of the section of road of the N-332 that runs between kilometer points 149,200 and 152,360 of the municipal term because the first request, approved in full on the 26th of October 2020, "there has been no response whatsoever from the Ministry" has pointed out the Councilor for Mobility, José Ramón González de Zárate.
After the first refusal of the Ministry “we modified the request and we sent it again, but since then, a year ago, they have not done anything. Not even answer. In addition, the mayor has requested two meetings with the subdelegate for Development in the Valencian Community and we have not received a reply either ”, the mayor indicated.
With this attitude, González de Zárate added, "it is shown that neither the Government nor the Ministry think about Benidorm, its companies, its citizens and the tourists who visit us." The Councilor for Mobility has argued when recalling that other nearby municipalities such as Alfaz del Pi or Altea requested the transfer of the section of the same road as it passed through the towns "and in less than a month they had been granted." "Why not Benidorm? It is clear that it is due to a political issue ”, the councillor said.
Benidorm argues to request the transfer of that road section that such road has acquired the consideration of urban and, therefore, its ownership can be transferred because the traffic of the road is mostly urban and because there is a road alternative that maintains the continuity of the road. State Highway Network providing a better level of service.
The transfer to the municipality of this section of road would give the City Council "full autonomy for the management of it." In this sense, González de Zárate has indicated that it would fall to the City Council "to unblock the access that Fomento closed years ago and that led to the road from El Trinquet and La Huerta neighbourhood." He has also cited, among other points, "the area of the cemetery where we could put public lighting and eliminate security and mobility problems."
In the opinion of the councilor, the lack of response from the Ministry is due to the fact that “they have no arguments” and he insisted that if the same transfer has occurred with Alfaz del Pi and Altea “they should do the same with Benidorm”.
“It is a pure and simple political issue. If it were a technical issue, there would be a favorable report as has happened with the other two municipalities ”, he concluded.
In the proposal that will be raised to the plenary session, it is also recalled that the change of ownership of the road section would not entail on the part of the Ministry any transfer of capital or personal or material resources to the city of Benidorm, which would assume all the powers that arise from the ownership and exercise of them through, exclusively, their own financial, material and personal means.
The transfer would not imply the Ministry to undertake improvements to the road or to compensate financially for it.