LOS MERINOS PAYS ANOTHER 866,000 EUROSThe controversial Los Merinos golf, residential and hotel development in Ronda may be standing idol because of the economic crisis but that has not stopped the developers honouring its payments to the town hall.
Last week they handed over another 866,250 euros to the town hall’s coffers. This was the ninth scheduled payment bringing the total paid by Copisa to 9,837,548. The administration says the money will be used for public investments in Ronda that will benefit all the local people.
The payment comes at a timely moment because the municipal coffers have been depleted over 2009 by the lack of construction projects and hence the reduction of monies earned from licences and agreements.
Copisa insists that this latest instalment shows that it is still intent on proceeding with the scheme once the financial crisis has eased. It says 100 million euros has been set aside for the project that will see two golf courses, 800 dwellings and three luxury hotels created on the site some 20 kilometres from Ronda town centre.
The payment coincided with Izquierda Unida announcing that it had forwarded to Ronda’s No 1 court more evidence in its case against the mayor Antonio Marín. The left wing party alleges that Marín has perverted the course of justice and broken the planning as well as environmental laws by giving the go-ahead of the development by his own decree.
Apart from the IU the regional government and ecologists have taken the legal route to have Los Merinos stopped. The zone has no adequate water supplies of its own and it is feared that it will drain the aquifers that supply the agriculture and villages of Cuevas del Becerro, Arriate and outlying zones of Ronda as well as damaging the environment in an area supposedly protected under the ecological laws.
MAYOR OF RONDA IS A POLITICAL TURNCOAT -OFFICIAL
On Thursday the Mesa Nacional Antitransfuguismo ruled that the mayor of Ronda, Antonio Marín, and his fellow former Partido Andalucista councillors were political turncoats. The ruling by the highest body that decides on such cases confirmed the earlier decision by the commission that investigated the case.
It was in June that Marín and his eight fellow PA councillors abandoned the party and became members of PSOE instead. They all sit as non-aligned but prior to their resignation Marín had entered in to a coalition with PSOE so the party now rules the municipality. However the voters of Ronda had given the PA the largest number of seats but now their views are totally unrepresented at the town hall.
The five experts that sit on the commission were unanimous in their verdict that the former Partido Andalucista councillors had acted as political turncoats. The Mesa Nacional Antitransfuguismo rubber stamped their verdict in Madrid.
PSOE’s secretary of organisation in Málaga province, Francisco Conejo, said the decision was unjust. He went on to say that Marín was the best mayor that Ronda could have and accused the opposition Partido Popular with no complying with the turncoat rules except when it suited them.
Mayor Antonio Marín said he would now take his case and that of his fellow councillors to the Tribunal Constitucional to appeal that it upholds their rights. Of the Mesa and commission he stated: “They have taken a decision that affects our honour”. The former PA councillors and PSOE insist they will maintain their open links and coalition.
However the president of the Partido Popular in Málaga, Elías Bendodo, called on PSOE to expel Marín and his former PA councillors from their ranks as this was the only way the socialists could comply with the anti-turncoat pact between parties. Needless to say both the IU and PA also insisted that PSOE had to honour the anti-turncoat agreements.
The attention will now turn to the municipalities of Yunquera and Genalguacil in Málaga province where councillors of the Partido Andalucista have joined the socialists without standing down from their posts.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
The 13 traders and residents of the calle Setenil in Ronda have held a protest because they say the administration has not erected any Christmas illuminations in this central part of the town. All the surrounding streets have festive lights but they have none. So show their displeasure they have lit candles in red containers and placed them outside their shops and homes.
JOBS PROTEST
A group of unemployed in Ronda have added their support to the spokespersons of the Partido Popular and Izquierda Unida who say there have been irregularities in the contraction of 50 people under the second plan to fight unemployment with central government funds. They believe favouritism is involved in selection and say no list has been published with those approved and rejected.
STREET WISE
A hard festive season for 28-year-old Juan Doña living in his car in Ronda in freezing temperatures. He lost his leg in a motorbike accident, was employed in construction but now has a basic pension forcing him and his partner to abandon their home because of debts. He doesn’t want his two children to see him like this and appeals to live in dignity.
DEFENCE AGREEMENT
Ronda and the ministry of defence have reached agreement over the future of disused La Concepcion barracks that occupy a large site in the town centre. The town hall will pay the ministry four million euros for the land which will be zoned for development. A new town hall, public square and underground parking is expected to be erected on the land.
SERRANÍA DAY
Cortes de la Frontera held last Thursday the Day of the Serranía de Ronda. The event was staged by the consortium of the Valley of the Genal – Guadiaro made up of 21 rural municipalities. The award for the first “Serrano del Año” was made with the president of the Diputación de Málaga, Salvador Pendón with the regional government’s tourism minister Luciano Alonso also honoured.
