

Sections
Services
Highlight
Nicolás Van Looy
Benidorm
Miércoles, 8 de enero 2025, 15:41
Benidorm, one of the largest tourist destinations in Spain, lacks a train station (apart from the Tram d'Alacant), making its bus station the main gateway to the city for thousands of visitors each year. This infrastructure, as denounced today by the local PSOE, is in a 'ruinous state', a situation that persists 'a year and a half after its final concession' and is 'tolerated by the government of Toni Pérez'.
This criticism was voiced by the spokesperson of the main local opposition party, Cristina Escoda, who emphasised that 'there have been no substantial improvements in the facilities despite it being almost a year and a half since the Popular Party government team approved the concession of the station's management to a company owned by Enrique Ortiz', a decision that was heavily criticised at the time by the socialists.
Escoda insisted that 'this businessman', referring to the controversial Enrique Ortiz, 'secured the contract he wanted thanks to the Popular Party, but the situation is one of absolute neglect'. In a harsh statement, the spokesperson for Benidorm's PSPV-PSOE assured that 'for 17 months Ortiz has been mocking Benidorm with the permission of Toni Pérez's government, keeping the station in a third-world state'.
Escoda pointed out that the degradation of this gateway for thousands of tourists, also used by many residents of the city and the rest of Marina Baixa, 'worsens daily with numerous defects, non-functioning information screens, closed accesses, blocked emergency exits, abandoned premises, broken elevators, and accumulated dirt'.
'Unfortunately, everything remains the same, without progress. We continue to offer the worst image at one of the city's main entrances after years of non-compliance by Ortiz, who should have the station in perfect condition,' she noted.
She also lamented that, after all these months, 'little is known about the future of the bus station. There has been much talk about a project on the table to revitalise the entire part of the building projected as a commercial area, but nothing has been concretised, and the facilities remain abandoned'.
The spokesperson for Benidorm's local government and Urban Planning Councillor, Lourdes Caselles, indicated today that 'we are aware that the project to re-commercialise the bus station is well advanced'. Caselles responded to the statement issued today by the socialist group and assured that 'contact with the concessionaire company, Grupo Cívica, has been constant during these months to know at all times the status of the project announced by the company itself last July on its website, where it was stated that the re-commercialisation of the station's commercial area would focus on offering dining and leisure options'.
In her response, the spokesperson for Benidorm's government team, Lourdes Caselles, referred to this project, acknowledging that 'we would have liked the complex to already be in the state we all desire, but we are aware that the proposal from the concessionaire company is not just a facelift of the facilities, but an ambitious project aimed at changing the concept and image of the entire commercial area, which requires more extensive planning, investment, and execution'.
Steps of which, a year and a half later, little is known, but Caselles insisted that 'in recent months we have urged the company to materialise this re-commercialisation project as soon as possible and, according to them, it is well advanced'.
In her response to Cristina Escoda's criticisms, Lourdes Caselles emphasised that 'we will be very vigilant to ensure that once the deployment begins, it proceeds as quickly as possible and the necessary works are carried out in the shortest possible time', although she did not provide specific dates.
Caselles stressed that 'in the successive governments of Toni Pérez, work has been done responsibly to provide a solution to the bus station, which, let us remember, was fully legalised by a PSOE government of which Cristina Escoda herself, now the socialist spokesperson, was a part, who always tries to hide this fact, despite it being substantial in everything that has happened since then'.
In her speech, Caselles referred to the Grupo Cívica website, which, she explained, states that the design project for the re-commercialisation has been commissioned to a consultancy specialising in such projects with experience in the sector, while an architecture firm has been engaged for the redesign of the different spaces.
The same communication published by the concessionaire, which includes an image of how part of the commercial area will look, indicates that the dining and leisure offerings will be distributed across the two interior floors of the station, the access plaza, and the bus dock; and adds that agreements are being worked on with companies interested in setting up in this commercial space.
Publicidad
Publicidad
Te puede interesar
Publicidad
Publicidad
Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para registrados.
Reporta un error en esta noticia
Comentar es una ventaja exclusiva para registrados
¿Ya eres registrado?
Inicia sesiónNecesitas ser suscriptor para poder votar.