The Generalitat will invest 14.5 million to modernize the sanitation, purification and water reuse network of Benidorm

The Generalitat Valenciana is going to invest just over 14.5 million euros in works to modernize the sanitation and wastewater treatment system in Benidorm and resolve some deficiencies that have been dragging on for years. This was announced this Friday by the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, during a visit to the city's Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) together with the mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, and the Minister of the Environment, Water, Infrastructure and Territory, Salomé Pradas.

During this visit, which is carried out as a prior step to the signing of a collaboration agreement between administrations where all the investments will be detailed, the head of the Consell highlighted that "we said it was going to be the water legislature and we are fulfilling it." Mazón recalled that "there was a historical debt owed by the Generalitat Valenciana in Benidorm, especially in water purification, and in six months we fulfilled that debt as we are also going to continue doing in many other fields."

Likewise, Mazón has highlighted that these investments will allow “preventing water from reaching the sea so as not to have to remove it from the sea later, because it is not sustainable, because it costs more in terms of energy and because it is not the solution”, after which he said that the line of work must be “less desalination and more purification, as we are going to promote with these 14.5 million euros of investment in the next four years.”

The president of the Generalitat has indicated that this is going to be the “most important investment that the Generalitat Valenciana has made in decades for Benidorm and for the Marina Baixa”, which is why he has considered it to be “a very important day because hundreds of thousands of users will be able to benefit and because their homework has been done here, they have worked responsibly, there is an exemplary Consortium and they know how to work with water in an exemplary and sustainable way.”

For his part, the mayor of the city, Toni Pérez, has thanked the Generalitat for its “interest in Benidorm” and has affirmed these investments “will allow us to have a completely updated and modern network to address one of the issues that concern us.”, and it concerns us, and where Benidorm is a model within the integral water cycle.”

Pérez has stated that the city “has part of the work done” because, “in the face of the silence of the previous autonomous Administration, the City Council has not stopped investing in the WWTP in recent years.” However, he has opined that “within this cooperation agreement that is going to become a reality in a few days, the Ministry and the EPSAR are going to invest, effectively, where it is needed. And it was time.”
The first mayor regretted that in the last eight years, “in Benidorm we have been alone maintaining a capital infrastructure for Benidorm, the Marina Baixa and the entire Valencian Community. The difference is that now we are accompanied”, something that in his opinion is a “clear example of what it means to cooperate, it is to collaborate and do your homework”.

It is expected that in the ordinary municipal plenary session this February the cooperation agreement will be approved as a prior step to its signature by the mayor and Councilor Pradas, which is why Toni Pérez concluded his speech by recognizing “the effort that “Record time has been spent – by both administrations – to put these investments on the table for Benidorm.”

In addition to the mayor, president of the Generalitat and councillor, the Water Cycle councillor and regional deputy José Ramón González de Zárate also participated in the visit to the Benidorm treatment and reuse plant, along with numerous members of the municipal Corporation; they also regional deputies Manuel Pérez Fenoll and Javier Gutiérrez; Senator Agustín Almodóbar; the vice president of the Provincial Council, Ana Serna; mayors or councillors of other municipalities in the region that also use this infrastructure, such as La Nucía or l'Alfàs del Pi; as well as the manager of Hidraqua in Benidorm, Ciriaco Clemente; and other technicians.

More information about the projects

The investment to be made by the Generalitat in the system of sanitation, purification and reuse of the city's wastewater, which will be developed through the Public Entity for Wastewater Sanitation (EPSAR), will reach a total amount of 14,520,000 euros, VAT included, and will cover different projects over four years. The purpose of all these works is to resolve the deficiencies in electrical and structural installations of the wastewater pumping stations, as well as to solve the reform needs presented by the current Benidorm WWTP, particularly in its old line, known as 'line B'.

In all cases, the EPSAR will be responsible for 90% of the cost of the works, while Benidorm City Council, as the owner of all the existing infrastructure and those that will be implemented in each of these projects, will undertake to pay the 10% remaining.

Among the actions that could be carried out within the framework of this agreement, as detailed by the mayor, are the reform of the electrical installations of the city's wastewater pumping stations (EBAR), the reform and repair of the EBAR Parque de Elche, the improvement of the water treatment line of the old WWTP plant, the improvement of the WWTP sludge treatment line and the adaptation of the WWTP personnel, control and workshop building.