SERRANÍA DE RONDA VILLAGES COULD LOSE BUS SERVICESBy David Eade – Costa del Sol News
The Partido Andalucista in Ronda has issued a warning that the majority of municipalities in the Serranía will lose their bus lines in 2012. That is when the regional government will liberalise its public transport policy and the PA says that 15 of the 21 villages in the area will be without public transport.
The claims were made by the PA’s spokesperson for transport and communications, Francisco González. He said the majority of the bus connections in the Serranía and in the Genal and Guadiaro valleys run at a deficit.
The services had been maintained by regional government grants but that will end in 2012. Companies will not compete to run routes that operate at a loss so they will simply disappear.
González stated that 15,000 people who live in villages in the western zone of Málaga province will suffer badly from this development as the majority are elderly and do not have their own transport. In addition most of these communities do not have a railway station nearby.
Ronda is the major centre for the villages that surround it but also feeds of the income provided by their residents. Hence both Ronda and the villages will suffer if the transport links go. Villagers come to Ronda to shop but also many use its hospital, health centres and administrative offices.
The PA is suggesting that Ronda and the affected municipalities should act quickly to form their own transport consortium. Such consortiums operate in many parts of Andalucía and the regional government pays over 25 per cent of the costs which is matched by another 25 per cent by the province. This would mean that Ronda and the other 20 municipalities would only have to co-finance the balance.
GARZÓN VISIT
Amongst those scheduled to attend Ronda’s first political film festival is the controversial campaigning judge Baltasar Garzón. The event runs through to December 4 with a homage to British film maker Ken Loach. The budget is 500,000 euros funded by the town hall, the ministry of culture, Málaga province and Unicaja with ten films from various countries in the official section of the competition.
DELAYED DECISION
The recent meeting of PSOE in Ronda was meant to vote on the executive’s decision to back current mayor Antonio Marín as the party’s candidate for the post in May’s elections. However members were only informed on the background to the executive’s choice. The vote will now be in January with an error in interpreting the rules being given as the reason.
OPERATIONS CANCELLED
A crisis at Ronda’s hospital which also serves the Serranía and parts of the Sierra de Cádiz. Fifty operations have had to be cancelled in one week alone because of the lack of anaesthetists. The Andalucía ministry of health says it intends to solve the problem by allocating another anaesthetist but the medical union insists this situation at the hospital is not new.
MORTGAGE WOES
Three Gaucín municipal workers could be in danger of losing their homes because they have not been able to make their mortgage payments. The situation has been caused by the constant delays in paying the 24 employees their salaries. The PSOE opposition alleges that 15 workers engaged in rural job creation schemes have never been paid although the town hall received the money.
POISONED LAND
PSOE’s spokesperson at Gaucín town hall, former mayor Teodoro de Molina, has reported the existence of an illegal toxic waste dump. The earth is said to be black from oil, carbon products and other contaminates near the Ronda to Algeciras railway line at El Pritchuelo. De Molina says he presumes the dump was authorised by the town hall and wants an urgent explanation.
CORK CRISIS
Cork producers in the Serranía de Ronda say they’ll receive 30 per cent less for their harvest this year. One of the major reasons for the slump is wine producers now increasingly switching from cork to plastic stoppers for their bottles. They are asking consumers to demand a bottle with a cork as some 4,000 people depend on their livelihoods from this sector.
SEWAGE ALERT
Izquierda Unida is calling on the Andalucía ministry of the environment to complete its plans to provide sewage treatment plants for the municipalities in the Guadiaro valley. IU says the river is now one of the most polluted in Andalucía and has alerted residents not to take water from it. Arriate, Montejaque, Benaoján, Jimera de Líbar and Cortes are all awaiting sewage plants.
HANDICAPPED WALK
Montejaque’s tourist office has created the first walk specifically designed for handicapped people. The area is very popular with walkers and this route goes from the village to the shrine on a nearby mountain side. The route runs for three kilometres and Ana María Montes from the office explained that it could be used by people with mobility problems and in wheel chairs.
