Muro town hall will have to pay over 3,000 euros in interest for a bank guarantee for the Playa de Muro Tourism Promotion Consortium, a body that has been inactive more or less since it was founded in 2009.
The town hall and the Playa de Muro Hoteliers Association form this consortium. In 2009, representatives went to the Fitur tourism fair in Madrid, where one key objective was to promote the Son Bosc golf course. Although clearance work was started at the finca next to Albufera, all work on the golf course was eventually stopped; Son Bosc is now part of an extended Albufera Nature Park.
Miquel Àngel Tortell, spokesperson for opposition Més at the town hall, says that this is a further example of poor management. He itemises costs incurred by the administration, such as one million euros on a water-treatment plant that didn't work, almost half a million on buying the bullring, which is always closed, and the 200,000 euros or so which were spent on seeking to justify the Son Bosc project.
The mayor, Toni Serra, admits to not having known of the consortium's existence. It was only when there was "a demand from the Hacienda for this money", that he and others did become aware. "It serves no purpose, so we will dissolve it."
However, Tortell argues that there has been a lack of control. Serra is a member of the CDM Convergencia Democratica Murera, as was his predecessor, Martí Fornés. Tortell doesn't know if Fornés was president of the consortium when it was created, but he is sure that he was a councillor with the ruling administration. "For a decade there has been a phantom consortium consuming town hall resources."