Izquierda Unida calls on the Marbella City Council to facilitate the transfer of the Marina Command building to the municipality. Toni Valero announces a parliamentary initiative to promote the handover.
Izquierda Unida has put forward the need for the Marbella City Council to collaborate with the central government to achieve the handover of the Marina Command. The general coordinator of IU Andalucía and deputy in Congress, Toni Valero, has announced a parliamentary initiative for the building, located in the heart of the city, to have a social use.
A long-standing demand
Valero appeared this morning in front of the Command itself, on the central Avenida del Mar, to denounce the passivity of the local PP government. “The City Council needs to step up in favour of the needs of its residents and it is not doing so,” he stated.
The deputy recalled that IU has been demanding this change of use for years. “Marbella has suffered many years of PP governments, which have left the municipality practically without public facilities while the needs of the citizens have increased,” he added.
The key: an alternative building
The handover of the property, which currently depends on the Ministry of Defence, requires the City Council to offer an alternative space to relocate the functions performed there. “That change of use needs the goodwill of the City Council,” Valero emphasised.
The politician insisted that IU will “pressure” for the Command to be allocated for public housing or cultural facilities if the City Council provides a substitute building. “This building is in a fantastic location, it must have a social use,” he stressed.
For her part, the regional coordinator of IU on the Costa del Sol, Victoria Morales, has criticized the mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, for what she considers a contradictory attitude. “The cynicism of the PP government is unparalleled,” she said.
Public housing: the big debate
Morales recalled that IU has been requesting the handover of the building since 2012. “The PP has neither done it nor wanted to do it when it was in their power. Now, surprisingly, in the Plenary, they are asking for the handover for public housing, but they have the solution in their hands,” she criticised.
The leader pointed out that the mayor could reverse the situation of the Leisure Residence to give it a social use, but she does not do so. “She does not ask Moreno Bonilla, but when she has no responsibility, she demands this measure which is pure posturing,” she stated.
For the residents of Marbella, this demand represents an opportunity to have a new public space in a privileged area. The Marina Command, located by the sea, has been underutilised for years and its possible transformation into housing or a cultural centre could alleviate the lack of facilities in the central district.
IU will bring the initiative to the Congress of Deputies in the coming weeks, and hopes that the City Council “stops complaining and gets to work,” in Valero's words. The next step will be the processing of the proposal, which requires collaboration between the central government and the City Council.
You may also like
