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Date Published: 01/06/2021
ARCHIVED - Torre Pacheco abandons Paleontological Museum project due to high cost
Finishing the museum would require spending 2.8 million euros over the initial budget, meaning that the total cost of the project would have surpassed 16 million euros
The Town Hall in Torre Pacheco has made the decision not to continue building its Paleontological Museum due to the excess costs, which if the project was completed, would surpass 16 million euros of expenditure, well over the intended budget for the project.
After studying the viability of the project, it was determined that finishing the building work and financing the opening of the museum would require expenditure of at least 15.9 million euros by 2035, which is 2.8 million euros over the initial budget.
In addition, if the museum was ever finally opened, keeping it running would mean spending a further 1.03 million euros per year.
Abandoning the project and not completing it means that the Town Hall will have to return the money given as a subsidy by the regional government; around 5.3 million euros has already been spent and the council must also return the remainder of the initial eight-million-euro subsidy, some of which has been spent on other municipal projects, over a 12-year period.
However, this option is still cheaper than finalizing the building and opening the museum, which would cost a further eight million euros.
The head of the Finance department in Torre Pacheco (Hacienda), Carlos López, has indicated that the Town Hall has asked that the regional government take into account that some of the budget has already been spent on the project and, in consequence, they request that this portion of the money be considered justified.
Furthermore, Sr López has stated that this meditated decision has been a hard one and, if the Paleontological Museum were to go ahead, it would have a significant budgetary impact that would mean increasing the municipal revenues to finance the building work, as well as the opening and maintenance costs.
The project began during the years of PP stewardship of the municipality and has been plagued by delays and financing issues since 2010 when construction started.
The idea behind the museum was to make Torre Pacheco a reference point in the study of paleontology, based upon the important Neanderthal remains found in the Sima de las Palomas in the Cabezo Gordo, which lies within the municipality in Los Dolores, of which the municipality is justifiably proud.
However, the reality of palaeontology is that although the discovery of Neanderthal bones is of undoubted importance to those engaged in the study of Prehistory, this type of museum rarely features on lists of top tourism attractions, and although politicians are adept at presenting this type of project as being of primary importance to increase the status of a municipality, residents would often prefer that their taxes be invested into local services and projects that will directly benefit local families in a more direct manner and that the money be spent on infrastructures such as flood defences which are needed to prevent a repeat of the 2019 Gota Fría floods.
There is an excellent Archaeological Museum in the City of Murcia which draws together finds from prehistoric sites right across the region. Click for Murcia Archaeological Museum
Image: Ayto. Torre Pacheco
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