In September 1998, a technical study estimates the cost of work to be carried out on several parts of Planas del Rey’s infrastructure. The project covers four essential areas: sewerage, the drinking water supply, public lighting and road surfacing.
The total cost of the project amounts to 47,234,044 pesetas, equivalent to €283,882.32. More than thirty years after the development was created, this budget provides the first precise estimate of the cost of upgrading its infrastructure.
A technical study carried out in September 1998
The surviving document is the budget summary appended to a technical report. It bears the logo of the Baix Camp County Council and is signed by Jordi Gatell i Leiva, a technical industrial engineer.
The study was prepared after several years of administrative and legal proceedings. The judgment issued by the Falset court in 1993 had established the obligation to transfer the communal areas and facilities. However, by October 1994, the transfer had still not been formalised, partly because the land concerned had yet to be precisely identified.
The documents from 1990 to 1994 show that the legal issue remained unresolved. The 1998 study reveals a further difficulty: the condition of the infrastructure and the cost of the work required.
Four main categories of work
The estimate identifies four main items:
- sewerage installations: 6,499,611 pesetas (€39,063.45);
- drinking water supply installations: 2,675,353 pesetas (€16,079.20);
- public lighting installations: 15,969,028 pesetas (€95,975.79);
- road surfacing: 7,444,246 pesetas (€44,740.82).
The initial cost of the work therefore amounts to 32,588,238 pesetas (€195,859.25). Public lighting alone accounts for almost half of this amount.
A total budget of more than 47 million pesetas
The following amounts are added to the initial cost:
- 5% for unforeseen expenses: 1,629,412 pesetas (€9,792.96);
- general expenses, set at 13%: 4,448,295 pesetas (€26,734.79);
- the contractor’s profit, set at 6%: 2,053,059 pesetas (€12,339.13);
- VAT at 16%: 6,515,041 pesetas (€39,156.19).
After the allowance for unforeseen expenses is added, the material execution budget reaches 34,217,650 pesetas (€205,652.22). With general expenses and the contractor’s profit included, the cost of the work rises to 40,719,004 pesetas (€244,726.14).
After VAT is applied, the total budget finally reaches 47,234,044 pesetas (€283,882.32).
The conversions have been calculated using the official rate of €1 to 166.386 pesetas. They represent the nominal value of these amounts in euros and do not take account of price changes since 1998.
A new stage in the transfer process
This document helps explain why the matter could not be reduced to the signing of a deed of transfer. It was also necessary to assess the condition of the water and sewerage networks, the public lighting and the roads, and then estimate the work required.
The study does not establish that carrying out this programme would automatically have resulted in the formal acceptance of Planas del Rey as a whole. It does, however, show that by September 1998, the main work required had been estimated at more than 47 million pesetas.
This estimate could then serve as a basis for the efforts to secure funding that would continue in 1999.
Jim – La Tribune de Planas
