Last Wednesday the mayor, Emilio Bascuñana, received the President of the Provincial Government of the Alicante Province, Cesar Sanchez, on the occasion of the hosting of the Board of the itinerant Government, by the city of Orihuela.

The itinerant government celebrates each of its sessions in a different municipality aiming to cover all Alicante regions within each year. Each session addresses the usual administrative matters as well as promoting local employment creation before it goes on to tackle the issues of importance related to the locations in where they are held, thus the visit to Orihuela last week.

This mobile plenary is what Sanchez refers to as the ‘Open Council Portal’ and is the deliverance of one of the promises he made when he became Provincial Head last year. It also provides the opportunity of attendance by local councillors, as well as members of the different social groups that operate in each town or city.

The mayor said he was pleased to welcome the President to the city. He said that it was important for the citizens of Orihuela to see the Provincial government in action and see how they address at first hand to needs of the residents of Orihuela and the Vega Baja.

In response the provincial president said that he is about to position the city of Orihuela, calling it the Cultural Capital of the Costa Blanca, in all of the upcoming tourism fairs, just one of the many related projects that will get underway in the coming months. Among the other decisions taken in Orihuela, Sanchez announced an investment of about 4.7 billion euros in 39 different projects amongst the 27 municipalities of Vega Baja.

Thirteen of the projects fall within the scope of the development of public roads (1,540,699 euros), seven in the refurbishmen and repair of infrastructure and property (940,273 euros), six in improving rural roads (292,393 euros), four in streetlights (588,860 euros), four in parks and gardens (183,501 euros), two water treatment works (179,961 euros) and sewerage (131,192 euros).

More specifically he announced that 800,000 euros of Provincial funding has been earmarked to improve many of the historic streets, squares and roads in Orihuela city.