On Thursday afternoon, around 20 traders affected by the works on the Sabinillas seafront walkway met again with Mayor Mario Jiménez and Public Works Councillor Diego Jiménez, and on this occasion Trade Councillor Francisco Becerra did attend.
This meeting was scheduled following the one held on 18 April, at which the traders put several points on the table to be dealt with urgently, given their concern over the low turnover of their businesses and even the closure of some of them because they were unable to provide a proper service to their customers.
Little progress was seen at the meeting. On the first point discussed at the meeting on the 18th, the traders asked for at least the first phase to be completed, and the mayor announced the arrival of the paving with which tiling was presumably to begin. However, it arrived on 28 April and, to date, not a single slab has been laid. On this occasion Jiménez told those present that tiling would begin next Monday or Tuesday.
Another request made by the traders at their previous meeting was that the Town Hall should try to ask the company to bring the end of the works forward by a month, so as not to lose potential sales in June, when the good weather and the summer season begin. On this occasion, however, both Mayor Mario Jiménez and Public Works Councillor Diego José Jiménez gave no hope that this could be achieved, whereas at the first meeting they had left the possibility open.
The third point discussed on 18 April was the possibility of their businesses receiving some kind of extra assistance from the council for the damage and losses that the works are causing them, but for the moment no progress was announced in this regard either.
One of the most frequent complaints has been the number of inspection chambers being re-marked out along the whole seafront promenade.
Diego Jiménez again asked for patience and understanding from those present, encouraging the traders not to give a bad image with the stream of comments being generated about the works, which ultimately harms the image of Manilva and its tourism.
Those present were summoned to a new meeting in about two weeks, by which time it should be possible to calculate the deadlines and timescales more accurately, depending on how the tiling work progresses over the next 10 days.
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