News
Late payers
The Treasury is reported to have told Vélez-Málaga to make payments to its suppliers more promptly . While the town is legally obliged to pay invoices within 30 days , it has been averaging almost 160 days . However , Finance Councillor Juan Carlos Márquez says there are 63 municipalities with a worse record including Madrid , Barcelona and Málaga , but adds that Vélez is working to improve .
Railway fire
Málaga fire-crews have prevented the escape of dangerous materials threatened by fire at the Renfe service depot in Málaga . No-one was injured in the incident at the Los Pardos workshops last month but a column of black smoke was visible across the city . The operation was complicated by the presence of bottles of highly inflammable acetylene and argon , as well as compressed oxygen and nitrogen .
Contracts delayed
Opposition councillors in Nerja have criticised the “ paralysation ” of projects to build footbridges across the mouths of the Chillar and Seco rivers . They it is “ incomprehensible ” that the Council has not yet licenced the projects which form part of the coastal footpath approved in 2015 . Infrastructure councillor José María Rivas said the process was delayed because of changes to the rules on public service contracts .
Drugs find
A 47-year-old Granada man who needed hospital treatment for smoke inhalation is facing drugs charges . Fire crews who attended an outbreak at his apartment found more than 200 marijuana plants growing in the property . National Police were summoned and immediately detained the suspect .
Castle found
Archaeological remains uncovered during construction work for Málaga ’ s metro extension are believed to be the foundations of a watch tower built in 1701 on the orders of King Carlos II . It was designed to help protect urban areas against invasion by British and French pirates . The Castillo de San Lorenzo was demolished a century later when the Alameda was constructed .
Millions of litres heading for Viñuela
Up to 17 million litres of water is being transferred from La Concepción reservoir to the Axarquía every day for the next two months . Although recent rain has greatly improved Málaga ’ s water resources , the province ’ s largest reservoir near the village of La Viñuela remains at risk .
Last month , the reservoir reached 40 per cent of capacity with a total of 66 cubic hectometres of water . The level is now the same as it was 12 months ago , the first time this has happened since 2009 .
However , water supplier Axaragua says that , while things are now better than they were earlier this year , they are not much better than 12 months ago . For this reason , the Junta de Andalucía has asked Acosol to help out by sending water from La Concepción to the east coast in order to ensure adequate supplies for the peak tourism months .
Environment Delegate Adolfo Moreno says that this means the transfer of between 160 and 200 litres to the Axarquía every second , equivalent to between 13.8 and almost 17.3 million
Vélez-Málaga is considering bids to undertake a € 499,000 upgrade to the María Zambrano Park . Named after the renowned Spanish philosopher born in the municipality in 1904 , the park opened in 2003 with a € 1.8 million local , regional and national investment .
The council says the objective is to make the 60,000 square metre area a “ sustainable space for leisure , culture and sport .” The upgrade will include a botanical route in which more than 20 different species of plants and trees will be identified and described , while new catalytic paving will be installed to help eliminate monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions .
Nine paths around the park will be named after books by María Zambrano and will be supplemented by works by other local authors , while sports facilities are already being improved ; a
La Viñuela reservoir
litres every day until June . He said work had been undertaken on maintenance and repairs of the pipe line to ensure it would stand up to the water pressures involved .
Water has already been sent to the east coast by Emasa , which supplies the city of Málaga . The transfers saw 100 litres a second sent first to Rincón de la Victoria and later extended to Almayate , but these were suspended in mid-March to allow maintenance on the network ahead of the peak summer demand .
Vélez park upgrade
María Zambrano Park
one-kilometre running lane will follow the border of the entire area , and two padél courts have recently been installed .
The park is the municipality ’ s largest green area and is irrigated from a well within the site . Work on the improvements is expected to begin with a month and take a further six months to complete .
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