The Benidorm City Council has taken a key step to face the sentence of more than 350 million euros for the APR-7 land in Serra Gelada, an unprecedented sentence in the urban planning of our country and which more than doubles the municipal budget of the tourist capital. The mayor, Toni Pérez (PP), proposes for the first time to negotiate the way to face the payment with the owners of the land and winners of this long judicial war, the Murcia Puchades family, who have now decided to remain silent.
The plenary session will vote this Friday to open a hearing period with the parties involved so that they can rule on the possibility of reaching a collaboration agreement and define its terms. Pérez has stressed that with the finality of the sentence and the completion of the administrative procedures, it is the “opportune procedural moment” to open the path of dialogue that in recent years the legal team of the Murcia Puchades has insisted on proposing.
The mayor has made it clear that this hearing will only have the participation of municipal technicians, without the presence of political leaders, and has also pointed out that it will be part of the response they will give to the judge, who has set March 10 as the deadline for the local administration to explain how they are going to pay the 283 million plus interest that continues to rise day by day.
Treasury will lend 55 million
The first mayor has also announced that in that same plenary session the accession to the Economic Impulse Fund and the opening of a channel of dialogue with owners with recognized rights in this sector will be debated. The measure has come after the Ministry of Finance has favorably resolved the municipal request to access state financing.
The operation has contemplated the formalization of a loan of 55 million euros through the Official Credit Institute (ICO), charged to the Financing Fund for Local Entities. The loan has been proposed for 12 years, with an interest of approximately 3.5% and with amortization beginning in 2027. As defended by the mayor, the accession has been possible because the municipal accounts have been healthy and the return does not necessarily imply an increase in taxes.
The latest reports from the Municipal Intervention, which earlier in the case warned of the risk of “technical bankruptcy,” have now supported this thesis. In its latest analysis, the economic department has concluded that the council can assume the reimbursement of the amount without compromising current public services.
While all this is happening, the local political battle remains more heated than ever with the mayor accusing the socialist opposition of “absolute disloyalty” and the PSOE spokesperson, Cristina Escoda, in turn calling for the resignation of the mayor because “he has not done anything until he has found himself in deep water.”
