The Cieza City Council has approved a budget of €3,100,000 to carry out various works for the improvement, renovation, and repair of urban spaces and roads, rural paths, and facilities in municipal buildings. €1,600,000 will be used for this purpose, with the remainder going towards debt repayment and providing the Almadenes Consortium with funds to address aspects related to the Medina Siyâsa archaeological site project. All works are expected to be completed by 2019.
The funds were allocated through a budget amendment approved during a special plenary session held Wednesday morning. Following the session, the councilors for Finance and Public Works, Antonio Martínez-Real and Francisco Saorín, respectively, explained the details of the 20 projects to be undertaken.
Within that list, some stand out, not for their amount, but because they address needs long demanded by citizens, such as actions in the neighborhoods of Zarandona and San José Obrero; the streets Camino de la Fuente, Camino de Alicante, Sanz Orrio, Gregorio Marañón, Fortaleza, and on the rural road of Los Losares.
Within the urban area, access will be improved and the urbanization of the neighborhoods of Zarandona (€180,000) and San José Obrero (€320,000) will be reformed; reinforcement of the pavement, construction and reform of sidewalks in Camino de la Fuente (€48,000), Camino de Alicante (€47,000), Sanz Orrio (€42,000) and Gregorio Marañón (€46,000); the stairs of Calle Fortaleza will be reconstructed (€45,000) and traffic light regulation will be carried out at several points of the urban area (€48,000).
In the rural roads section, a retaining wall will be built on the old road of Los Losares (45.150); the road surface will be adapted and reinforced on the roads of Cauce (5.881), Casa de la Loma (50.348) and La Carrasquilla (142.146), in addition to the signage on the road of La Corredera and the placement of a barrier on the road of El Tamarit (4.237).
Regarding improvements to equipment in municipal buildings, the interior painting of the Town Hall building (17,638) and the old courts (16,702) is planned; on the other hand, an elevator will be installed in the Town Hall (23,000), in whose first floor the low voltage electrical installation will also be modified (30,601) and, likewise, a modification will be made to the telecommunications infrastructure for offices and dependencies.
In a final section, the conditioning of the Álex Yepes Sports Pavilion (Neighborhood Hall) (400,000) and conservation and maintenance actions of municipal roads (145,000) are contemplated.
Finally, the budget amendment has been used to provide 10,000 euros to the Almadenes Consortium for projects related to the Medina Siyâsa archaeological site and to pay off municipal debt amounting to 850,000 euros, which will leave the debt of the Cieza local administration at the end of the year at around 2 million euros, "one of the lowest in the entire Region of Murcia," in the words of the Finance Councillor, Antonio Martínez-Real.
The councilor emphasized that these investments demonstrate that “the municipal government continues to address many of the problems and needs of our city. All these actions continue to transform Cieza for the better.”
Regarding the stance taken by the opposition during the plenary session, Martínez-Real described it as "irresponsible because of their comments; they have not lived up to the importance of providing answers to needs widely demanded by citizens."
For his part, Francisco Saorín emphasized that “this is a significant budget amendment aimed at improving the living conditions of Cieza residents. The projects to be carried out are not whims or fancies of this administration, but rather demonstrate that this team has been meticulously monitoring the needs of the municipality and will contribute to addressing them by improving quite deteriorated urban spaces and environments. I believe this demonstrates a continuous commitment to observing and gathering data on the state of Cieza and addressing priorities as quickly as possible. This approach will continue to be a guiding principle of this administration.”