The residents of Oasis urbanisation, part of the La Marina complex on the hill above San Fulgencio, took to the streets once again to march to their Town Hall. The protest is a continuation of the action being taken by residents against the imposition of charges in respect of the provision of a new sewerage system.
The project to provide new mains drainage is costing 5.7 million euros and the Town Hall is only contributing 10% of the cost with the residents expected to pick up the balance at a rate depending on the size of their residences. Some of the demands are in excess of 20,000 euros. The charges are being collected through the SUMA offices and while residents can pay in nine monthly instalments that does little to reduce the blow, with many saying they simply cannot afford to pay. If they cannot pay from savings they would have to get a bank loan or take out a mortgage on their property. Failure to come up with the cash will mean assets and property being embargoed.
During the first demonstration the protesters presented a statement which they delivered to the Town Hall to be read out at a council meeting stating their position. No council member or the mayor was willing to talk to the group at that time and for the second protest they chose a slightly different approach with many of them carrying red pieces of card to symbolise them giving the mayor of San Fulgencio a red card, as in football, a sending-off.
The demonstration started from the same place as the previous one, at the college on the outskirts of the town and made its way, as before, to the Town Hall itself in the main square. The council is unrepentant though and told one local newspaper that the decision was made and the residents themselves had wanted the changes to be carried out. The residents have a different take on the situation; yes, they welcome the changes because the old system was totally unacceptable however they believe the Town Hall should pay for the infrastructure and not them.

They have taken their case to the ombudsman of Valencia, José Cholbi, and he announced last week that a file has been opened on the matter. He said they had received over 500 individual complaints from the people affected by the project. A source from the ombudsman’s office was quoted in the Spanish national daily newspaper El Mundo as saying that if the land had been classified as urbanised then the cost of the project should not be borne by the homeowners but by the Town Hall. The coordinator of the protest movement, Fini Cánaovas, said that the residents would win the fight precisely because the area is an urbanisation, consolidated in the 1980’s. She went on to add that they would not agree to proportional payment and in fact they do not want to pay anything at all. The residents are planning further de-monstrations to underline their grievances and these will take place this Thursday March the 18th and also on Thursday March the 25th starting at midday from the college in San Fulgencio itself.