Over the years, many of them, the anticipated cost of building a sewage plant in Nerja has risen, and risen. The latest estimate/budget/call it what you will is €40.6 million, with some ‘experts’ recently stating that, due in the main to the elevated terrain, a more realistic figure would be €60 million, or even more.
How then can anyone keep a straight face when bids are announced which range from €23 million to €26 million. It has been costing more than this amount to build far smaller and simpler plants in some other towns.
Presumably, as often seems to happen, the first order of the day after the contract begins will to up the budget, maybe even extend the completion period.
The main priority, of course, is to get the plant built, regardless of cost, it is long, long overdue. The lack of such a facility in a large town, particularly a tourist resort, is not only shameful, but it is having a negative influence on visitor numbers. You only have to trawl the forums/comments on numerous sites to see this.
However, if it takes many years for a set of ‘experts’ studying a project in minute detail to come up with a figure of €40 million as ‘the cost’ and another set of ‘experts’ to do the same and come up with a figure of €26 million as ‘the cost’, then one’s faith in ‘experts’ is bound to take a nosedive.
Time will tell. As long as they get on and finally build the plant, I doubt too many people will complain.