Orihuela council has now formally rescinded the contract with the UTE Management Company for the Playa Flamenca Municipal Sports Centre (CDM) in the Orihuela Costa. They did it last Friday in an extraordinary Local Government Board.
In addition to withdrawing the contract with UTE, the Ayuntamiento is going to initiate a sanctioning process in which they will claim damages of 782,000 euros, in addition to keeping the 50,000 euros bond placed by the company at the start of the contract period.
They claim that UTE has breached an agreement to build a multipurpose building of 1,000 square metres which would include a fitness and cardio-fitness, a gym, warehouse and changing rooms.
UTE closed the sports facility without any notice on 1 April leaving many dozens of users without the services of an indoor heated pool, paddle tennis courts, football field, basketball and handball courts, gymnastics or tennis, causing a situation that created a great deal of outrage among the residents of Orihuela Costa.
During the intervening period there have been several demonstrations demanding the centre reopening.
The City Council says that it will now enter the facilities to check the condition, repair damage and carry out maintenance as well as installing surveillance to avoid further vandalism. It will then put the centre management out once more to tender although there are calls locally for it to be managed publically.
Cambiemos spokesman Carlos Bernabé recalled that the sports centre had the highest prices in the area and together with CLARO it defended a joint motion demanding the cancellation of the contract and its immediate reopening “with affordable prices”.
Bernabé said he feared that the intention of the local government would be to “reprivatise” the CDM “predictably so that Clequali, the company that manages the sports facilities throughout the rest of the municipality, will have the opportunity to take the centre on.
