Moreno: "The only one who forgot about Vasco Núñez de Balboa refurbishment was the Botànic administration"

Benidorm City Councilor for Education, Maite Moreno, stated this Tuesday that "the only one who forgot about the necessary renovation of the Vasco Núñez de Balboa public school was the Botànic administration, which for eight years refused to include this project in the Edificant Plan, promising that they would directly carry out works that never happened."

Moreno responded this way to the press release issued today by the municipal socialist group, in which they criticized the Consell's neglect of these works and the "delay" of those at the Ausiàs March school. The Education Minister recalled that "these two schools, indeed, suffered for years from neglect and inaction on the part of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and Compromís, as was the case with the Pere Maria Orts i Bosch secondary school," and noted that "the current Generalitat (Generalitat) under Carlos Mazón committed to providing solutions for all of them, and is doing so."

In this regard, Maite Moreno reviewed the situation. She pointed out that "in the case of the Pere Maria Orts Secondary School, it has already been announced that the construction, awarded for almost 13 million euros, will begin at the end of April." Meanwhile, regarding the Ausiàs March School, in which another 2.1 million will be invested through the Edificant Plan, "the City Council has already put out to tender technical assistance for drafting the project and for construction management," after which she argued that "there is no delay, but rather legal procedures and administrative deadlines that must be met."

Regarding the Vasco Núñez de Balboa school, the councillor noted that the renovation project, originally valued at 1.8 million euros, included repairs to the structural damage to the gymnasium and locker rooms, as well as other work that had been necessary for years, such as the renovation and adaptation of bathrooms, the installation of an elevator in the Primary building, the adaptation of the exterior walls and the Infant playground, and the complete renovation of the electrical installation.

Moreno stated that "at the City Council, we continue working to ensure that the construction work on this school will also be underway very soon," adding that "the work has had the full and absolute involvement of Toni Pérez since he came to power. The only difference is that until June 2023, two parties governed Valencia, the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and Compromís (Compromised Party), which abandoned Benidorm's educational infrastructure to its fate. Meanwhile, in less than two years, the Regional government has already unblocked two of the numerous projects that Botànic left unattended."

To delve deeper into this matter, the Education Minister recalled that "the previous regional government was not even able to remove the asbestos roof that had been in place on the Vasco Núñez gymnasium until 2017," a material that is "very dangerous and caused great concern in the educational community due to its adverse effects on health." “After repeatedly requesting it and receiving no response, it was finally this City Council, with 100% municipal funding, that, out of responsibility, ended up withdrawing it,” the councillor stated. This project involved an investment of nearly 25,000 euros and was carried out during the 2016/2017 Christmas school holidays.

Finally, Moreno issued a message of reassurance and asked the deputy spokesperson for the Socialists “not to try to deceive the population by issuing unfounded warnings.” The councillor stated that “once again, the only ones who annulled all the projects in the Edificant Plan in Benidorm with a stroke of the pen were Ximo Puig and the PSOE and Compromís government, when, just days before the 2023 municipal and regional elections, they revoked the eight projects approved in our city and at no point informed the City Council of their suspension.” The eight projects affected were those related to the public schools Ausiàs March, Puig Campana, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Gabriel Miró, El Murtal, Els Tolls, and Serra Aitana, and Mediterrània High School, which represented an investment of 12.8 million euros.