Twelve years after it first gifted the land to the Conselleria, the new health centre in Pilar de la Horadada is about to become a reality.

Construction work will get underway during the next few days and should be completed within about eight months, after the million euro contract was finally awarded to the Madrid based company Imesapi SA last week.

The new building will be constructed on the parking area adjacent to the current Health Centre. It will have a basement and a ground floor.

Most of the basement area will comprise of staff accommodation and storage areas while the main ground floor will have all the usual facilities as well as a 24 hour emergency area, pediatrics and midwives, primary care and three consultation rooms for specialists. including traumatology, rheumatology.

The centre will occupy 600 square metres of floor space on a 2,000 metre plot that will also include an area for parking.

During the first construction stage both buildings will remain in operation and the road that separates them will be pedestrianised. However, the Councillor for Health, María Teresa Valero, said that, if required to do so, the new centre will also be able to expend in the future with the addition of a 2nd and 3rd floor.

As she criticised the Ministry of Health for over two decades of delay, the councillor added that the new centre is long overdue. “With a population of 25,000 people the current infrastructure is totally inadequate despite the three satellite installations in Mil Palmeras, La Torre and Pinar de Campoverde, where, in summer the population can reach 90,000 people.”

Meanwhile the local government has also awarded the contract for the construction of the new overpass on the Rambla and Calle Mayor at a cost of 411,742.43 euros

Approval for the work, which will take eight months to complete, was given at Tuesday’s Plenary and will include the elimination of the existing speed bump, and preparation of the ravine so that the floodwater that is so often a problem during heavy rainfall, will better drain away and resolve the problems of flooding along that area of the main road.

Following completion of the project the whole area will be made good with additional amenities and gardens.