The parties that form the government of Dénia, PSPV y Compromís, presented during the ordinary plenary session held on Thursday a motion to demand the acquisition by the Generalitat of the Jesús Pobre convent. This is a property of great historical value for sale, which all Dianense political groups advocate making public. Furthermore, this acquisition by the public administration was one of the projects that were chosen by the Valencians during the Participatory Budgets of the Generalitat of September 2021. However, all of 2022 and nine months of 2023 have passed and there has still been no no movement.
The previous Government of the Generalitat carried out the first Participatory Budget campaign in September 2021, in which, thanks to the vote of the residents, it was agreed to allocate 1,5 million euros to the acquisition of the convent. An amount lower than the sale price, which was 2 million, which made the acquisition impossible. It was the main reason why the purchase was never agreed upon, although the motion defends that the processing was delayed by the municipal elections that were held in May 2023.
Exchange of blame
El PP, despite being in favor of seeking ways for the acquisition, has taken the opportunity to disfigure the PSPV and Compromís who claim, now that the Government has changed color, said acquisition without admitting that they let it happen when their parties were in charge of the Ministry and the General Directorate of Heritage. "You would have to explain to the citizens why you have put obstacles and more obstacles to the budgets if you had made the commitment," said popular councilor José Antonio Cristóbal in the plenary session. "If the convent today is not part of the heritage, the only ones responsible for the lack of will are you."
"Let's stop blaming ourselves," responded the socialist Javier Scotto after the popular ones pointed out PSPV and Compromís as the only ones responsible for the current situation, challenging the current Government: "Let's see how long it takes to complete the file." A new file, since the previous one that reflected an investment in the Marina Alta of 1,5 million euros is already closed.
Future of the convent
Although the approved motion has not received unanimous support, since the PP voted against, they have all been in favor of recovering the property for public assets. Now, during this year the acquisition will not be able to see the light since the administration of the Generalitat would have its hands tied as this procedure had not been included at the time in the 2023 budgets. In any case, next week there will be a first meeting between the Dénia City Council, the EATIM of Jesús Pobre and Heritage to specify how to proceed.
