The care pressure from the health center Altabix It has been evident for quite some time now. The figures speak for themselves: up to 47,000 users are assigned to this health center which, according to the professionals themselves, is the largest in the province and, probably, also one of the largest in Spain. That and the Travalón neighborhood continues to be one of the main expansion zones of Elche justify the need to build some new sanitary facilities in that environment. However, that has not prevented them from accumulating delays. To the extent that it has been now when The Consell has managed to unblock a project that just finally came out tenderwith 14 months latewith an estimated value of the contract that is located at 7.5 million euroscompared to the 7.2 million initially announced, and with 24 months execution periodcompared to the 18 that were said at the time, which leads the end of work in 2026.
Health will invest 7 million in a new health center in Elche to decongest the Altabix one
The announcement of discord
It was in February of last yearthree months after 28M, when the then Minister of Health, Miguel Mínguezand the Mayor, Carlos González, presented the project for the new center and announced that the work They would be tendered in April and awarded in July, with an execution period of 18 months. It was hoped that the facilities would be a reality in 2025or, at least, that is what was proclaimed.
In parallel to Mazón’s investiture
However, it is striking that, according to the documentation contained in the Public Sector Procurement Platformalthough it was in February 2022 when the resolution awarding the contract for the drafting of the projects and the voluntary management of the new health centerit was not until July 10, 2023already after March 28 and three days before the investiture of Carlos Mazón as president of the Generalitatwhen the Infrastructure and Investment Service of the Ministry of Health supervised the basic and execution project, and was approved by the contracting body. Thus, the procedures began to, precisely, contract the worksaccording to the technical report of the chief architect of the Infrastructure and Investment Service of July 14 in which the need for contracting the work was justified.
A procedure that It was already late if the deadlines announced by the Minister of Health in February 2023 were taken into account.and which, at that time, became a little more complicated, until it resulted in the «update of the complementary report to the technical report“, From the past May 3which, finally, allowed the situation to be unblocked.
Twenty thousand people from Elche have been waiting for eleven months for the future Travalón health center to be put out to tender
The Lawyer’s report
It is in that document from the beginning of last month that details that in January of this same year entered into the registry of the Infrastructure Service of the Department of Health a legal report of December 21, 2023 of the Generalitat Lawyers’ Office on proposed annex of specific conditions to the list of particular administrative clauseswhich meant that at the beginning of February, Health provided the information that had been requestedand a complementary report to the technical needs report.
More pitfalls
It was not the only obstacle. He 28th March Another report arrived at the department, this one from the Elche City Council, in which it was reported that the environmental license -until that moment it was not despite the initial letter of July-, but complying with the special requirements and conditions established by municipal regulations. Among them, the installation of some drinking water reserve tankswhich involved writing an annex that collect and quantify the interventionwhich is what has ended up leading to the “updating of the complementary report to the technical report” of May 3, which, now, has allowed activate the process, to award the works with a completion period of 24 months.
Health will take at least two years to build the new health center in Elche
Around 20,000 users
In principle, it is planned that they will be derived around 20,000 users to the new health centerwhich the Botànic and the left-wing municipal bipartite said would be called Ernest Lluch, and this is how it appears in the reports. The facilities will be located in a plot of 4,356 square meters in the extension of Alcalde Juan Hernández Rizo streeton rectangular-shaped land with a slight slope to the east and south.
The constructed area will be around 2,530 square metersand the proposed building has prismatic shape and three floors: ground floor plus two floors, although reports emphasize that «an openwork and wavy façade skin contributes to giving the building a much more organic appearance». Additionally, there will be a semi-basement where, in fact, the drinking water reserve tanks that includes the municipal regulations and that had not been contemplated initially, postponing the process a little longer.
The mayor of Elche sees the awarding of the new Altabix health center as feasible before the summer
Self-consumption
Likewise, the project aims to the installation on the roofs of the new building of a photovoltaic generation plant in self-consumption format, as indicated in the Consell’s energy savings and efficiency plan.
Regarding the healthcare areas, the Ministry of Health contemplates including extractions and treatments, pediatrics, preventive dentistry, addictive behaviors, family medicine, basic rehabilitation, social work and maternity.
Mayor, Pablo Ruzhe assured late this Friday, in reference to the Travalón health centerwhich is a Extraordinarily good news for Elche that the tender for this project, which is so necessary for the city, has already been published on the Public Sector Contracting Platform.». The Elche councilor, in this sense, emphasized that “this shows that the Consell of Carlos Mazón complies and that, for the Consell of Carlos Mazón, public, universal and free healthcare is a priority and, for that, we are very happy and grateful.” Pablo Ruz, in addition, delved into the line that he has been following in recent months: «This shows that we were deceived a little over a year ago when we were told that the works would be put out to tender in April 2023. pending processing,” he said. With this, he practically used the same arguments that he has been using in the municipal plenary sessions when, for example, the spokesperson for Compromís, Esther Díez, questioned him in January about the situation in which this claimed health center was located that will help decongest that of Altabix. At that time, Ruz alluded to delay due to the Lawyer’s reportand was confident that the tender would arrive in February, although non-compliance with municipal regulations has ended up postponing that moment until June.