The City Council of El Poble Nou de Benitatxell has put out to tender the reform and expansion of the Santa María Magdalena school included in the Edificant Plan, the formula promoted in 2018 by the Department of Education to expedite the pending reforms in educational centers throughout the Community.
As explained by the Councilor for Education and Urban Planning, Jorge Pascual, the base tender budget is 2.290.361,82 euros (VAT included), and the action includes the expansion of the main building, which will house the new classroom. Infant, four more Primary classrooms, a multipurpose classroom, and support, music and computer classrooms.
The renovation of a kindergarten classroom will also be carried out to convert it into a library, the expansion of the existing school plot, the relocation of the sports court and the execution of a series of urbanization actions.
Interested companies have until March 2 to submit offers through the State contracting platform. The estimated period for the execution of the works is twelve months, so it is expected that the works will begin in 2024 and finish in 2025.
In December 2020, the acceptance of the delegation of powers to begin processing the works was approved in the municipal plenary session, and in 2022 the drafting of the project and the construction management were awarded. «During this drafting process it was observed that, due to the increase in prices due to the unstable economic situation, the budget initially granted by the Ministry was not sufficient, so the City Council requested an extension, which was approved in July 2023”, they have stated.
Creation of a Monitoring Commission
During the course of the reform, the relocation of the prefabricated classrooms is planned to provide continuity to classes without affecting the students' academic year. Furthermore, in order to ensure collaboration, understanding and communication between all parties involved, a project monitoring committee will be created in which there will be an interlocutor from Ampa, the School Council, the faculty and the City Council.
"We want that, within the inconvenience that a work can cause for the normal functioning of a school, it involves minimal inconvenience and is coordinated in the best possible way with the entire educational community," said the councilor of the area. For this reason, he continued, "we are going to create this monitoring commission, to go in unison and be able to coordinate to report on all progress, resolve doubts, make proposals and take action."
"consensual decisions on possible setbacks that arise."
The reform of the only school in the municipality is a tremendously expected action by the entire educational community. The works will make it possible to eliminate the prefabricated classrooms and modernize a school built in 1932 which, although with reforms and extensions, has become too small and needs new classrooms adapted to current teaching methods.
