Municipal sources indicate in a press release that Cieza adds the La Andelma irrigation canal to the institutional protection, which, declared as an asset of cultural interest, will have to be publicly cared for and maintained so that it continues in the best possible condition.
The statement explains that “Cieza is celebrating, after a long wait, the Regional Government Council has decided to support an initiative from Cieza declaring the La Andelma irrigation canal a Site of Cultural Interest. A victory for the people here who, after hearing about a possible culverting project, mobilized to prevent La Andelma from disappearing from our city.”
The document states that, in 2012, a subsidy of 2 million euros for the improvement and efficiency of irrigation threatened the piping of La Andelma, “a centuries-old irrigation ditch in our municipality. Some local groups, as well as the platform that was established as a central organization, Save La Andelma, fought against this possibility.”
These demonstrations brought together up to 2,000 people who, "concerned about the disappearance of one of the most important existing Arab remains in Europe, tried to get political organizations to unite in support of a cause as just as it is from Cieza," explain sources from the municipal government.
The statement affirms that the Department of Environment and Tourism, along with Mayor Pascual Lucas, congratulates “the people of Cieza and the relevant institutions who, through their hard work, have ensured that the irrigation channel can continue to flow at the foot of our Atalaya.” “The Cieza of today cannot be understood without considering what has brought us to this point,” Lucas states.
The aforementioned municipal sources confirm that the government team “will continue working on building a Cieza that recovers its identity and continues to enhance all the resources it has as a center of attraction and window to the rest of the world.”