Since the beginning of the works, in February of last year, the cultural courses have been transferred. /
The city council hopes that the center of Retuerto will be ready soon, but for the moment the elevator will not be able to be used, nor the heating.
The Barakaldo City Council will reopen the Retuerto Culture House on May 2. It will do so after the “physical” completion of the reform works undertaken a year ago in the building, which included the installation of a lift, accessible toilets, new changing rooms and the change of the boiler. However, the work is not yet finished, at least on paper.
The Manufacturing Consistory decreed last Friday the resolution of the contract it had signed with the winning company, which had already been sanctioned for delays in the work. The city council pointed out that it has failed to process the necessary permits that would allow the assembled equipment to start, due to problems it has with subcontractors.
Meanwhile, the facilities of the Retuerto remained unused. In February last year, the city council moved the cultural classrooms that were taught in the center to other facilities in the neighborhood, in order to start work. Its duration was to be six months. However, before that deadline expired, the company requested a further two-month extension, which was granted and exhausted in October.
Already in November, during a technical inspection of the works and with the new deadline passed, the technicians warned that there were still actions to be carried out and that neither the new heating nor the elevator were in service.
In February of this year, the last mandate was granted to the successful bidder, until the end of the month, and compensation of almost 16,000 euros was imposed.
The mayor’s decree signed on April 1, which considers the contract terminated, also envisages the seizure of the deposited guarantee, of 13,720 euros, “given that it is a fault of the contractor who will generate damages for the town hall of Barakaldo”. The document adds that this measure will not affect the liquidation of the works carried out. The works had been contracted in December 2020, for an amount of 332,043 euros, including VAT, which represented a significant drop in the bid price, which was close to 400,000.
This week, at the Barakaldo town council, they remarked that the works were “completely finished”, with the elevator installed, the new bathrooms adapted and the changing rooms separated by sex, instead of the only one existing before. The old installation of electric water heaters has also been replaced by gas heating. However, its reopening next month will initially be without being able to start the elevator and the boiler, while the unions in charge of its placement complete the necessary procedures.
cover installed
The town hall of Barakaldo foresees the return of all the courses that had been offered in Retuerto, although for the moment they will not be able to integrate sports modalities that require the use of showers, and therefore of the new boiler. In the central courtyard, a 300 square meter roof has also been installed, the result of work carried out by another company to provide the area with a covered area.
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