Catch 22

There has been a lot of debate and protest about the proposed new roads for this area. Clearly the intention of the national and regional government is to produce a better infrastructure that will help the camarca develop and ease congestion at peak times.

What might have suited a rural Vega Baja will not be sufficient for a region moving forward and looking to the future. There has been talk of the Vega Baja becoming the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Spain - a marriage of high tech industry with a rural economy. Whether that is feasible or not, I can’t say. What I can say though is that this sort of development couldn't happen with the existing road network.

As far as I can gather, there are three new roads which are at the centre of the debate; the CV-95 from Orihuela down to Torrevieja and the coast, the CV-91 from Orihuela down to Guardamar del Segura and now the AP-37 linking Alicante to Murcia.

Each will of course cut across land that is currently being used for crops and will necessitate demolition of houses. Each will cause a great deal of inconvenience whilst they are being constructed.

In addition there is the new high speed rail link to consider. The AVE also ploughs across the region affecting, amongst other places, Callosa del Segura. Apart from the problem of the Sierra de Callosa, there has been a lot of debate about whether the route should be above or below ground as the train passes through Orihuela.

The catch for the planners is that no town wants to be left out by being isolated from the improved network of roads. At the same time, they don’t want the roads to cut across their territory. In other words they want the benefits without the attendant problems. The planners need to get it right but they also need to make sure they don’t miss the boat by starting the projects too late. In twenty years time it may be too late to consider how the economy of the Vega Baja can be boosted.