ISSUE NO. 1681
21 - 27 September 2017
COSTA DE ALMERÍA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Attacker held in custody
Spending disgrace deepens ONLY 10 per cent of the money promised to improve Almeria’s infrastructure has actually been delivered. Just €18 million was spent on public works across the province last year. This is despite the Spanish government pledging €180 million to fix crumbling transport systems and build high speed railways. Instead the money spent across all of Almeria is equivalent to a mere 10th of the city’s annual budget. It is almost precisely one 10th of the amount promised by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government.
Robber scares himself POLICE are hunting a bank robber who fired a sawn-off shotgun during a failed heist in La Mojonera, Almeria. The masked man walked into the busy branch shortly after noon and fired a warning shot in the air. But the chaos he caused seemed to scare the attacker more than anyone else. Witnesses told police that he seemed shaken by the sheer force of the weapon and immediately fled on foot without taking a penny.
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A TEENAGER accused of stabbing a 21-year-old man is in police custody, while his victim remains in the intensive care unit of Torrecardenas hospital in critical condition. A late-night fight erupted between the two at a drag racing event in Almeria’s Los Molinos neighbourhood. Police found the young man lying face down in a pool of blood having been stabbed in his stomach and lower back. Witnesses told them that he had been knifed and that the 17year-old culprit had fled on foot. DANGER: Millions of fruit trees in peril.
Clock is ticking Province on verge of major catastrophe By Matthew Elliott MILLIONS of fruit trees could die within the week across the Almanzora Valley. An emergency irrigation request has been sent to Madrid by Almeria’s Mesa del Agua water board. If the water doesn’t arrive in time an estimated four million clementine, peach, plum and nectarine trees face imminent death. Millions have already begun to lose their leaves and fruits are far smaller than usual. The problem is most acute to the north of HuercalOvera, where farms have entered ‘zero supply’ stage, receiving no water whatsoever. Farmers have resigned themselves to a disastrous harvest that will struggle to pay the bills. But the death of millions of trees would
be an environmental and financial catastrophe for the valley. “If the government does nothing to help it will mean the ruin of many families and the end of millions of trees that were planted decades ago,” said Mesa del Agua spokesman, Jose Antonio Fernandez. The board has begged Madrid to approve the transfer of five cubic hectometres of water from the Negratin reservoir in Granada to its Almanzora counterpart. The Villaricos desalination plant has been out of service since 2012. “Five years later, the government has not lifted a finger to defend the interests of Almanzora farmers,” said Fernandez, “despite the fact that they have offered to take over the desalination plant and repair it at their own expense.”