The councils of Marbella, Estepona, Fuengirola, Mijas and Manilva are asking the central government to take charge of the cost of lighting the A-7 motorway. The government is responsible for general road maintenance of the A-7, however the local councils for the areas bypassed by the motorway have been paying for the lighting of the road for 15 years, at a cost of approximately 11,000 euros. The mayors of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz; Fuengirola, Esperanza Oña; Mijas, Ángel Nozal; and Estepona, José María García Urbano; and a Manilva councillor, Eva Galindo, are together demanding for that the Government reimburse this amount. According to Urbano, the councils have already made several attempts to hold meetings with those responsible from the Development Ministry, and they have also sent four letters addressing the problem, which have been ignored.

“This is not about stopping providing a service, but about making sure a responsibility of the State is paid for by the Government,” said the Mayor of Estepona.

The two changes that they hope to be made are, firstly, that the councils be able to reclaim money from the electricity company spent on the lighting. Secondly, they want the lighting of the road to be the responsibility of the State from now onwards. According to Esperanza Oña, the local councils assumed this responsibility two decades ago “upon the refusal of the Development Ministry to light the motorway, but on a temporary basis”. Owing to the current economic situation of the councils, it was decided to try to hand over the job of managing the lighting.