The P.P. claims that the town hall of El Ejido is so badly managed that it has ended up with debts of over €90,000,000 (90 million euros). Or, 15 thousand million pesetas in old money.
Jose Francisco Riviera, spokeperson for the P.P. (Partido Popular) Party in El Ejido, claims that the town hall has spent more on hiding costs than controlling them; this has led to a situation in which the town hall has reached a point where unless the central government guarantees the loan nobody will lend the town hall money.
An example was mentioned: in July, the town hall spent over €200,000 in legal costs alone defending against claims in the courts by three companies that were attempting to reclaim unpaid bills owed by the town hall.
The P.P. has pointed out that in these cases, not only does the town hall owe the original debt or contract, but also the interest and penalties “that in some cases are larger than the original debt or contract price and are due soley to late payment of the capital”.
Another example was that of the Central Theatre of El Ejido. A credit was requested of 12,000,000 euros to build the place. However, since the credit rating of the town hall was so low, and the town hall could not pay on time, the banks agreed on a 20 year repayment plan – which cost an additional 8,000,000 euros in interest. So a 12 million euro project cost over 20 million euros, just because of bank loans.
The P.P. claims to be making this public because without public condemnation nothing will ever be done (yeah, right). Well, I’ve done my bit.
El Ejido is ruled by Juan Enciso, leader of the local Partido De Almeria party (PAL). A local non aligned party that neither PSOE nor PP love.
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