Miguel Ángel García He revalidated the mayoralty in El Poble Nou de Benitatxell in the last municipal elections of May 2023. Més Benitatxell achieved a large absolute majority with seven councilors in the Government team. After the first year of the legislature, we interviewed him to find out how everything has gone at the City Council so far.
He receives us in his office, where we discuss some of the issues that most concern citizens, such as the high presence of traffic within the urban area or how the municipality faces the summer threatened by drought. The mayor tells us about three great challenges that he and his team have in mind in the coming years and that they hope to have solved before the end of the legislature.
ASK. Going into issues that you tried to address in the electoral program, what progress is there on the issue of decongesting vehicle traffic in the urban center? How do you intend to achieve it and when?
ANSWER. Since the legislature began until now, being aware that traffic is perhaps the main problem we have, a lot of progress has been made. We are working on several avenues. There is a very advanced one, which is the traffic that comes from Xàbia towards Cumbre del Sol, especially in the construction that was carried out a few years ago of the Lady Elisabeth School, which has generated a before and after for us with the invasion of vehicles, is unaffordable. We hope that we can now build a new road with a new roundabout, which will be a great step and will bring decongestion that will move traffic a little away from the urban area.
On the other hand, a historical demand is to be able to divert the provincial highway that passes through two streets of the town. What is being suffered is totally unsustainable. Being able to divert it away from the urban area would give us a better quality of life and we would gain streets for the town. There we have made a lot of progress, there have been very good negotiations with the new highway deputy, Arturo Poquet, mayor of Benissa. We also believe that by the year 2025, we do not know if in the middle or the end, we hope that the Provincial Council will start them. It seems that the matter is going very well. They require an investment of 3 and a half million euros. Therefore, it is a first phase. There will be two phases of the entire project that diverts all traffic, and the first can begin next year if nothing happens.
Q. And about the works on the roundabout that the Lady Elisabeth was to finance and the roundabout on the Xàbia-Benitatxell highway with the Cansalades road?
R. The roundabout in question, closest to the urban area, which was worked on during the previous legislature, is co-financed. The school contributes 465 thousand euros and the rest will be provided by the City Council. And also, there is another roundabout that goes at the crossroads between the road that goes to Xàbia, Xàbia-Gata, and the one that goes to the part of Cap de la Nau and Arenal, which is called Cansalades road. That intersection is a historical hotspot for accidents and generates tremendous queues. A roundabout is going to be built that is fully financed by the Provincial Council and it will be done within this year, it is quite advanced, it will not take long to start.
Q. Where is the project at then? Is it already written?
R. Yes, this second roundabout on the Cansalades highway has the project completed. The expropriations have been done, but I know that it is very advanced and we are talking about it being able to begin within this year for sure.
Q. How is the issue of transportation service going to link all the urbanizations with the urban core?
R. In the previous legislature we started a project financed by a grant. It was a pilot test of on-demand public transport to link the different areas of the town. But two things happen. It is a new service that has never been provided until now, we understand that it is necessary because we have many elderly people, and we need to give them time to adapt to the new service and to that way of understanding the journey to the urban area.
It has gone well, there has not been as much demand as we would have liked. We knew that was going to change and now we are maturing the new service. That it can be launched continuously to offer it to citizens, no longer as a pilot test, but to leave it stable.
Q. How is the new parking system working in Moraig Cove? Is there anything new for this year?
R. It was something very new because it was not a closed system, but we respected the road so that everyone could continue passing through it. We gave it a while and let's say that the system was very easy to monitor with cameras. The bet was very strong, and it went very well, but many weak points arose to be resolved, as is normal with something that is being born.
This year there has been a tremendous leap in quality, it is working very well today and we are very happy. It has been well accepted, although, like everything, there is criticism of the changes. I think people have understood that it is a way to compensate for all the expenses that a place like the cove has for a small municipality. The coast should not belong to anyone, it belongs to everyone, it is there for whoever wants to come, but it has some expenses, a very high maintenance that for a town like us is, I don't want to say unsustainable, but it is expensive. Therefore, we must provide balance so that it is perfect and that people can enjoy it.
Q. Above the soccer field there are some paddle tennis courts to be finished. What is the current status of the expansion of the sports area and the completion of the new tracks, in addition to the parking next to the soccer field?
R. The works are practically finished, there is not much left, we are talking about a few weeks. In fact, the courts are already set up and the new access to the sports area is being finished. We are very happy because it was one of the works with which we had problems in the last legislature, we had to do the procedure again.
We all know the problems we can encounter in public works. We have learned, but we are very happy because it is a very good expansion of the sports area. At the image level it has been made with dry stone masonry elements, which is typical here. We are trying to introduce this into all the works we can so that it also characterizes us. There will be a new access to connect the new parking lot, which is distanced from the other. Now there will be two entrances.
Q. Will the old paddle tennis courts remain?
R. Yes, at the moment yes. There is one that is very old and does not comply with the regulations. It was the first in the region, but it has become obsolete. The other is perfect, it is a legal, correct, regulatory track, which will continue to be used for the moment. But we are working on a new design for extensions or reforms of the sports area to have greater use and in the future we do not know if it will remain open.
Q. Has progress been made on the issue of guaranteeing the presence of banking entities in Benitatxell?
R. Negotiations have begun with a financial institution to see if it is willing. So far it seems that the news is not as good as we would like. We are going to continue working on it, it is not easy because we are immersed in a change in the model of the entity itself, digitalization.
It seems that it is something that escapes us. As a small town we are very attractive because there are investors, there is a lot of economic movement, but it seems that it is a process that we are not going to be able to cope with as we would like. However, we are going to work so that there is a financial entity that allows dialogue, direct contact, especially for the older people we have, who are not so familiar with technologies.
Q. What are the infrastructures that Benitatxell needs most and how do they intend to achieve them during the legislature?
R. As we have talked about, the traffic issue is the biggest problem. It has been a historical problem, but now it has reached a point of no return. This must be solved rain or snow, and we have had it very clear for years.
The infrastructures that I have mentioned, the detour of the Diputación road linked to the two roundabouts, the sector from Xàbia to Cumbre del Sol, the entrance to Xàbia through the town. We are working on two more roads to prevent an invasion in the town.
We are working on a new access road for the entrance to Xàbia from the rear, which would go behind our church to unite this area where there are many parking spaces to park and access the town center on foot. Also in a new entrance road from Teulada, because we did a semi-pedestrianization work on Alicante street. It is a street that has been beautiful, with a unique and green platform, with spaces for children next to the oratory, between the oratory and the school.
We are going to continue betting on that town model. We are convinced and we already have subsidies. Therefore, we are going to work with roads that allow us to surround the town without invading it with vehicles and give life the opportunity to enjoy the street as a point of social relationship that our town needs.
Because in the past there were different points of social relations and we have lost that in some way. Now the urban area is an invasion of vehicles and we must go back in this regard. In the tests we have done, which have been two, people go, sit, whether they are children or adults, and enjoy the sun, play, talk, have a snack and live on the street, which is what we need. We will continue along this path in terms of traffic infrastructure.
Afterwards, we are working to be able to build a great house of culture. Big in quotes, depending on our municipality. We want it to include a museum, an experiential room about fishing as something unique, an intangible and material heritage that we have in our municipality, and also an assembly hall, very necessary for the town and also in high demand historically, which we need.
We are working on some investments in some land. Let's see if everything goes well so we can do the work later. These are the most important things.
Q. Do you think they can be carried out within the legislature?
R. On the issue of traffic, we hope that the Provincial Council can fulfill its promises and its deadlines, and at least one of the two phases of the highway detour can be finished. The issue of the two roundabouts, as I mentioned before, must be finished within the legislature.
As for the two new vials, let's see. We are talking about a lot of money. We are working to increase the City Council's income, as we have already achieved. We have varied the budget a lot, increasing income, because now we have assets that we can exploit more, in the sense that they are sources of income that have never been worked on until now.
The issue of land for the auditorium, we trust that we will have it. Having the new assembly hall in the house of culture, I doubt that the work will be finished within this term, I must be honest. But to close the legislature with the project prepared and with part of the financing directed, I aspire and believe that we can.
Q. One of the most worrying issues currently, and facing the summer, is the drought, due to the continued absence of rain. How will Benitatxell face this issue?
R. We have the water system in consortium with Teulada Moraira. The situation is not good, we have been dragging it on for many years and we are also dragging an entity, the water consortium, that has been very paralyzed.
Since we began to govern in 2019, we reached an agreement with Teulada with which we were going to annually allocate money to repair and replace what is called the low network, which is the distribution network from the streets to the houses. We agreed that there would be some independence. That each municipality be granted an amount of money and have the independence to choose the works according to their needs, because each municipality is the one that knows them best.
It was a leap in quality. More than half a million euros have been invested since the last legislature and this one, in El Poble Nou, as a result of the negotiations, has been a step forward.
The next step, the second problem, is to have enough water, enough flow of quality water to supply all the demand we have. It is an issue that began to be worked on in the other legislature and now works worth 3.800.000 euros have been awarded with which we are going to expand the desalination plants, the pipelines and achieve, with this expansion of the desalination plant, to have three racks of water.
One of them is going to be equipped so that it can treat salt water from the sea. Because El Poble Nou and Teulada have a peculiar situation compared to other towns. There is no shortage of water here, the aquifer from which we supply is an aquifer that when it does not rain and there is no longer fresh water, we have sea water. You can't see the level dropping, hardly anything.
Therefore, the important thing is to have desalination plants prepared, equipped to be able to treat water of such poor quality, with so much salt. What we have now is not prepared, it is used to working with sweeter well water. With this expansion we will equip a frame to work with less consumable water and we will have two frames, for which the technical commission has received orders from the presidency to start the project and equip the other two wells and treat this type of water.
It can lead us to have 7.500 more cubic meters of water daily when we have it completed. Maybe it will take us a year and a half. More or less it is estimated, but that is to say, there will be water. This year we will have a bad time, next year it will be better and we will not be well, but in two years we will be in a better situation.
But everything must be said, in the moments of highest consumption, such as summer, we will need to continue asking for water from Amjasa Xàbia as has been done until now. That is why a new negotiation has been opened, a new path with Xàbia, to be able to reach a longer-term agreement, so that investing on the part of the two municipalities can also ensure a flow of quality water.
Work is going very well, the works will begin shortly, in a couple of months, maximum three, but there is still some way to go. The peace of mind is that there is water, it is about having the mechanisms and infrastructure to be able to purify it and convert it into drinking water for consumption.
Q. Does Benitatxell have a plan to deal with possible problems related to water in summer?
R. At the last meeting of the consortium, a package of measures was already approved according to the situation, whether normal, alert, pre-emergency or emergency. Among these measures, some are already being applied that we do not notice at home, such as pressure reductions that are imperceptible to us, but that already represent water savings.
In addition to a lot of communication so that we are all aware of the situation we are in. All of this has already begun and as we get closer, there will be more containment measures.
At the moment there are no plans to make cuts, we are going to start buying water from Xàbia shortly, when normally we started in July or August. Therefore, drastic measures are not contemplated at the moment, let's see how the summer comes. Nothing can be ruled out and in some way we must all be aware of the situation. If a cut comes, we will have to adapt and work to improve this, but the situation we have is what it is, we must be realistic.
Q. Given the lack of precipitation, the drought in the mountains and forest areas is evident. How does the local fire prevention plan and the management of forest areas in the municipality work?
R. Regarding the cleaning of forest areas, the Emerge brigade is currently taking charge. It is a subsidy that comes from the Conselleria, with which the largest forest areas we have are being cleaned to avoid, as far as possible, fires.
Then, regarding the issue that worries us a lot, that trees are drying out and so on, from the technical department of our public company we are studying solutions that we can implement. It is not easy, but we are studying how we can try to improve this situation as much as possible. Because it affects us and all places. You pass by the foot of Montgó and you see it, it is incredible to what point we have reached and what the land is like.
We must implement the solutions that the technicians tell us.
Q. One of the big issues in the electoral campaign that many parties from various municipalities had in the program was the creation of a Day Center. Més Benitatxell also proposed it, what can you tell us about it?
R. It is necessary because, as I have said, the majority population is certainly aging, but today, in order of priority, we have it a little behind the projects that I have mentioned. We have been analyzing through opinion surveys and it seems that people give priority to the issue of traffic and the cultural center, which are historical demands. We do not lose sight of it and we have looked at between two and three possible areas to locate it in the future, but it has to be step by step because we are a town with income but also with many expenses and we must be aware.
What we are working on, which is about to bear fruit, is an agreement with the church. It is not completely closed yet, but we are quite advanced, to be able to rehabilitate a space, the oratory that we say, which is a building in quite poor condition, owned by the church, and it is a large building that is not being used.
We intend that the agreement allows the City Council to obtain financing from other organizations to be able to rehabilitate it and, among other things, locate a municipal wake. Nowadays we have to travel to Xàbia, to the funeral home there, and it would be a benefit for the people to be able to walk to this place and accompany friends and loved ones in those moments.
This project seems like it could move forward, even before the Day Center. But it is something pending and step by step. As I said about the culture center, I highly doubt that we will be able to open it in these years. But leaving the legislature with the project prepared and part of the financing directed, I hope and think that we will be able to.
Q. In terms of enhancing and recovering heritage, progress has been made, such as in the Cova de les Morretes. What will be the next projects?
R. We are working with the Universitat Politècnica de València on the Cova de les Bruixes project, which we are going to continue. In the Cova de les Morretes, the old oven that was there has recently been restored. The truth is that it is a very beautiful place where the treasure was found, it is very good. And, as a strong point, we are focusing on the fact that the old keyhole was discovered in the last legislative session in the area of the pous de l'Abiar, the area where there is the most water in our municipality. We are going to finish discovering it and put it in value.
We don't know yet how all that will go, let's see what state it is in, it seems pretty good. We are working to invest in this area and add value to it. The idea is to close it as a leisure area, for use, to divert traffic from there as well, and for it to remain as a reference area, for visits. As this area has always been, but, curiously, it had been lost, like its water mills. We recently replaced and recovered the grinder that was not working and has been continuously generating and removing water.
The area is going to be beautiful because it has something special for the people of the town, and it is going to be beautiful with all the washing. We recover the essence, that self-love so necessary for our people. Therefore, that is a bit of the flagship at the heritage level. And, in this area, I would also highlight the oratory building, which needs to rehabilitate the bell tower with the annex building. It is a very emblematic building where all of us children have gone there to teach catechism or to teach something and we will recover it for everyone to enjoy. The Heritage Department is working to close this great agreement. Interesting.
Q. To close, what would you say are the great challenges that the City Council faces until the end of the legislature?
R. I would say there are three. One is the recovery of the town for the citizens, honestly. I walk along Pau and Major streets, which are the emblematic streets along with the church area, and sometimes I have the feeling that we are on a road with many vehicles passing by, and that we must change.
And we will see it soon, because we have four or five works about to begin with subsidies, mostly from the previous legislature, that will take us to a before and after as an urban area. We are talking about a total semi-pedestrianization of Pau and Major streets, Carrer Mercat, with a comprehensive rehabilitation of the municipal market, to bet on nearby commerce with low costs for merchants, which will energize the area.
So recover the streets of the town for the people of the town, for life, for children, for walking and moving, to be in a quiet, green, shady place. It is important. We are going to change the town model. That's clear, it transforms. There is no other way, because what is current is part of the past.
On the other hand there is the traffic. To achieve all this, it must be linked to a new mobility model. And finally, water, because it is so basic. We are working well with the water and we will see the fruits, I think in two summers.
I would consider those three great challenges: recovering the town for the people, new mobility by removing heavy traffic outside, and, finally, having a sufficient flow of quality water for all of us.
Q. And what do you think are the strongest points of the government team to face three more years of legislature?
R. I would say that, that we are a team. Normally in politics you find teams where perhaps they are acquaintances, but not friends. Here the circumstance occurs that we are friends, we respect each other, we love each other. When one is not well the other helps him, there is brotherhood among the councilors. In the end we represent what the town is, a small town, where we lend each other a hand, of different ages, but with a lot of appreciation, with a lot of knowing how to be there in the bad times, because we go through good and less good times. But if something makes us strong, it is friendship. In fact, if that were broken, we would lose part of the essence and strength that we have.
We are a team and a lot is delegated. For my part, I delegate everything I can and with full confidence. We help each other a lot, and it shows. And we do it out of enthusiasm. You don't do it because you want to be in politics. For example, politics is not one of my strong points, honestly, but I like local management, I like my town. I don't see myself doing politics anywhere else because I don't feel it.
And we must be here as long as we have that enthusiasm, that desire, and the proactivity to move forward, to get something different, to add the little that we can do for our people. But when that ends or diminishes, we must also be aware that it is time to step away. Make way for new people to come, because you must always have enthusiasm to transform and advance in some way.
Therefore, I consider myself privileged because being the mayor of a team like this is much easier. I honestly tell you. And that is what characterizes us, union. And above all, we are all clear about where we want to go.
We knew when we arrived that we would encounter something that was not positive. We knew we had to clean. We were aware. Someone had to deal with that dirt. We came to clean and lay the foundations and start building what should be The Poble Nou of tomorrow. We must be aware that no investment has been made in the urban area. The entire term has been built and here, don't ask me what happened but, nothing has been invested. I don't want to say that we are the same as we were 40 or 50 years ago, but there are not so many differences.
Therefore, this town must take a leap at the infrastructure level and in all aspects, at the level of living. There is great work in the grants we have obtained. 9 million euros were obtained in the previous legislature, which is an outrage for the small town that we are. And now many of these works are going to begin.
We were clear about where we were coming from and what we should do while the hope lasts. When it slows down a little, we'll have to leave. Knowing how to leave is very important.
