The Comunidad de Regantes del Argos has announced that the votation for the modernisation of the irrigation system on August 31 will be from 8am to 9pm in the Municipal Auditorium in order to give everyone an opportunity to vote.
Anyone with land in Calasparra is entitled to vote for or against the alternative plan for the second phase of the modernisation of irrigation systems which gives landowners a choice: stay with the existing system or sign up for pressurized drop irrigation. This alternative plan means that only those who sign up for the new system will pay.
Earlier in the year, when the plan was that everyone should benefit from the new system and would pay their contribution, members of the Comunidad voted against the second phase. Voting day was chaotic as hundreds of local residents queued for up to three hours in the Municipal Auditorium to have their say. This has led to the decision to have a full day´s voting on August 31: to give everyone an opportunity to vote and to avoid the massive queues of the last votation.
The opposition to the modernisation of the irrigation systems continues to allege that the plan is “illegal” and that the 15 or 25 years of interest free credit offered to those who sign up for the new system is “a mortgage on our patrimony.”
However, the alternative plan has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture in Madrid and is supported by all three local political parties as “the only hope for the future of agriculture in Calasparra” and for creating much needed short term and long term employment.
Votation: Municipal Auditorium on August 31 from 8am to 9pm.
