Pilar de la Horadada council has committed 3.8 million euro in order to complete the controversial La Paloma building adjacent to the Rambla with the objective of opening it as a new Mariana Baches Casa de Cultura. The decision was taken at an extraordinary plenary session last Monday, with eleven votes in favour and ten abstentions, during which, in addition to the approval of the project, the process of awarding the work was initiated.
The eleven ‘yes’ votes all came from the PSOE and the independent Vecinos por el Pilar, Francisco Albaladejo while all ten PP councillors and the Unión Pilareña, abstained.
In abstaining from the vote members of the Partido Popular said that “they do not understand the rush of the mayor to approve such a controversial project scarcely 4 weeks before the municipal elections that the current mayor Ignacio Ramos won’t be contesting. So much haste seems suspicious, “they said.
However the council responded by insisting that Pilar de la Horadada urgently needs a new building for its cultural activities and that since 1994, when the original cultural centre was built, the population has tripled and activities have continued to grow, but these have had to be curtailed because of a lack of suitable infrastructure to accommodate many of the projects and activities.
Likewise there is a large amount of material on deposit in the Municipal Archaeological Museum Gratiniano Baches, which cannot be displayed in its rooms. Its specimens have indreased from 1,200 to 67,285 items in the last quarter of a century.
Many temporary exhibitions are also inhibited by a lack of space which has seen a large number of prominent displays deciding not to exhibit in the town
The characteristics of the current Municipal Public Library are reminiscent of bygone days which require the library to exhibit its books horizontally, access to users very difficult.
The new centre will have rooms of appropriate size and soundproofing that allows the concentration of all those who need its use. There will also be an exclusive and safe space for children and a room for internet use with suitable facilities.
The new Cultural Centre will have classrooms for workshops that will carry out the educational work on behalf of both the Museum and the Municipal Library and the serious problems of humidity which excludes many people from using the current building will also be resolved.
In applauding the decision to go ahead with the construction the mayor, Igancio Ramos, said that it is a building that the people of the municipality have long deserved.
