CONTINUE
The illusion and work of a lifetime can end up in rubble. On the Vigo parish of Beade, he overcame the threat of a high-capacity runner that no one asked for, but whom Abel Caballero does not want to give up. With just over 5.000 registered residents, but rural in essence despite its proximity to the urban center of the largest city in Galicia, Beade has risen up against the almighty mayor for the project of a road, with two lanes in each direction, which would behind the parish. And what is most worrying among its neighbors and those of the surrounding villages: the road would take away more than a dozen houses, some recently built and about to open.
The nightmare of PO-010 no longer sleeps in Beade, and the 'Gallic village' of the olive city is reviewed in front of its popular and peculiar mayor, unaccustomed to citizen response.
The Beade thing is simply the particular misfortune of one or several neighbors that tends to make it difficult to live in a house that has no choice but to destroy, and inevitably expropriate, to build an infrastructure of general interest. It is not an inevitable and indispensable misfortune for the common good and progress; at least, so considering its neighbors, on a war footing against the project. And, also, the opposition in blocs. In this case of the Vigo parish, there is a host of circumstances that have led the neighborhood – which has collected more than 3.000 companies against the municipal government project – and the PP, Marea and BNG to cry out to the sky: they cry against the socialist mayor for an "unnecessary" work, which also, in his opinion, was processed through the back door and deliberate secrecy.
The future road, just over three kilometers long, is conceived as a high-capacity branch that would connect the A-55 motorway (Vigo-Porriño), at Baruxáns, with Clara Campoamor Avenue, very close to the stadium de Balaídos and the Stellantis factory (the old Citroën). This road, although with a different layout, was part of an old Vigo ring road roundabout project that recognized the General Plan for Municipal Planning (PXOM) of 2008, which would end up overthrowing the Supreme Court. With the judicial setback, that concept of round ended up in oblivion. The small section that leads to the Balaídos industrial estate, however, although —as has been said— with a different layout, is now recovered by the new PXOM, which the PSdeG initially passed alone last August 26 —voted by the PP against , while BNG and Marea preferred to abstain.
A high-capacity road that neither neighbors nor the opposition miss: “It is necessary, it is a road that no one has asked for, that no one understands,” José Alfonso Marnotes, spokesman for the popular group in the City Council, told ABC. "An unjustified road", which "threatens to cut off a very important part of the rural parishes" of Vigo, affects the same line Xabier Pérez Igrexas, mayor of the BNG. The councilman of En Marea, Rubén Pérez, does not see it as a necessary work either and regretted that he "sacrificed" a parish to favor, in his opinion, the needs of the old Citroën factory.
For the municipal government, however, it is a "strategic action", as defined by the councilor for urban planning, María José Caride, who has preferred to answer the questions of this newspaper through a written questionnaire. The mayor defends the new road to guarantee accessibility to the University of Vigo and the Cunqueiro Hospital, the main educational and health facilities in the metropolitan area.
Criticism of the processing
However, it is not only the suitability of the work that neighbors and the opposition criticize, but also the alleged obscurantism of its processing. The PXOM ended in its initial proposal last August —in a telematic plenary session—, but those affected assured ABC that they did not find out about the municipal plans until the end of November. To questions from this newspaper, the councilor for urban planning argued that, since the draft was presented in April 2020 —in the midst of a state of alarm—, it flourished “on several occasions with neighborhood representatives”, with the intention of “listening to the neighbors” and “answer their questions”.
Those affected by the work, however, did not find out until the end of November that there was a projected road that would pass over their houses. "Things were done wrong here," said Ana Pascual, president of Avibe, the platform for those affected by the road. At the headquarters of the neighborhood association of the parish, he had exposed a plan of the future road, but, be that as it may, those affected had no news. Nobody told him. And for the members of this platform, not only was there a lack of transparency when making the project known, but also before, During its preparation: "The neighbors were not included."
The projected road divides the Vigo parish of Beade in two – M. Muñiz
Each victim has their own drama, but someone could suffer it multiplied. Brand new housing should always be a source of joy and satisfaction, but it will not be so in the case of Abel Mejuto. For this 57-year-old hotelier, who has lived in Beade for more than two decades, the tragedy of the expropriation would be multiplied by three. They had bought a piece of land on which they are building three chalets in line: one for his wife and for him, and the other two for his two children; each one, with its respective mortgage. One of the houses, with the works already well advanced, is almost "ready to move into," Abel explained to ABC. Ignored that the shadow of expropriation hovered over the project; otherwise it would not have occurred to him to buy and build. The City Council did not warn him of the plans for the future road when, between January and February 2021, they granted him the licenses. At this point, Caride defends that the Council is limited to complying with "current legislation." The licenses —adds the mayor— “must be granted within their deadlines if the current planning is fulfilled”. "Only the initial approval -which, in this case, was not until August 2021-, as established by law, supposes the suspension of licenses", justified the socialist council to this newspaper.
The construction of the road, in any case, does not seem to be imminent, especially because the Xunta refuses to finance it —the City Council wanted it to assume 85,5 of the 98,7 million that this regional competition road would cost —. At this point, Caballero's executive again resorts to the theory of the supposed contempt of the Xunta de Feijóo towards Vigo.
The refusal of the Galician government to assume the cost of the road, however, did not calm the local concern. They want it to disappear from the PXOM, since this plant will take 18 years to build. They presented 3.000 arguments for final approval. And it is that, if it were collected in the PXOM, those affected would be living with the risk that the project could materialize for almost two decades. Almost two decades in which, on the other hand, no one would buy land and houses threatened with possible expropriation. Many, in addition, would become rustic land, with its consequent loss of value. They believe that only media noise can save them. On Tuesday they concentrate, again, before the City Council.
A highway passes a few meters from Adolfo's house, in Beade – M. Muñiz
"Before this was a paradise, now it's sinvivir, I'm fed up"
In Beade, it rains sober wet. Another large road, the VG-20, with two lanes in each direction, has been crossing the parish for 17 years. Since then, the life of Adolfo Álvarez and that of his wife "is a life without living." A road bridge, with continuous racking detrudes, passes 12 meters from his house. "Before, this was a paradise," Adolfo describes to ABC, "from the window I could see the Cíes." Now, "everything is noise and pollution." Adolfo, already jubilant, goes for a walk through Samil every morning to escape from that hell. In his case, he would even have preferred that the house had been expropriated. And although the new road project does not affect him, he knows what he is suffering and sympathizes with his countrymen.
