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The Research Commission of the City of Cartagena, which has studied the construction of the Municipal Auditorium and Congress Hall The Batel has held its last meeting on Thursday, June 29, after which its members have appeared at a press conference to present the conclusions To those who have arrived, and who gather that the architect José Selgas was the main responsible for the over cost of the works.

This has been ensured by the president of the commission, the councilor of the Treasury of the City of Cartagena, Isabel García, who has appeared accompanied by the councilors Carmen Martín, Francisco Espejo, Pilar Marcos and Manuel Padin, also components of the commission.

García has detailed the conclusions drawn from this commission created after the municipal meeting of December 2015 and which are collected in a document of 30 pages of extension.

This is a total of 40 conclusions including the geotechnical study that was done prior to the beginning of the works as "angular piece of the overhead" of the same, which was classified as "incomplete" and did not take into account the References of the Museum of Underwater Archeology (Arqua).

During the different sessions and meetings held, the five members have reviewed and analyzed all the documentation of the administrative file for contracting the work, as well as its modifications, specifications, proposals of the companies that participated, technical reports, the order book and reports Issued by the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT).

It has also been said, explained the mayor of the Treasury, with the presence of local technicians present in the construction of the work and the representative of the construction company, although neither the former mayor, Pilar Barreiro nor Jose Selgas appeared before the commission.

The architect, in charge of the direction of the work, was in charge of the supervision of the works.

With various modifications and price revisions, the work went from a budget of 20 million euros to cost 44 million euros, which has to add just over two million euros for acoustic adaptation, almost 10 million for stage equipment , 4.2 million of the environment, two million euros received by the architect of the work, 589,000 euros for the surveyors and 1.5 million euros that went to furniture.

Thus, finally, El Batel cost 64 million euros.

Following the analysis of the documentation, the five members of the commission agree on the lack of appreciation of technical responsibilities by municipal officials and consider that "there could be a responsibility on the part of the director, Mr. José Selgas, and by the UTE ".

On the other hand, there is a point where there is no unanimity in the commission, around political responsibilities, that "can not go beyond a public reprobation."

With these conclusions, a report will be requested from the municipal legal counsel to determine the legal actions that can be taken.

On the other hand, PTSC Marcos of the CTSSP has remembered that in the beginning this commission of monitoring of the work was not created because "the technical director was the own architect" although to create after checking the City council, with the modified number 2, of the High increases in the budget, the commission was created in which "technicians did a great job".

At the same time, he considered Jose Selgas "the main responsible for these extra costs", which he said "was not diligent not to predict what could happen on the ground, taking into account similar works in the area as the Arqua Or underground parking "and has asked the councilors and the mayor of the municipal corporation at that time, and has been pleased with the work done by the representatives of the five political groups represented in the City of Cartagena In this commission of inquiry.

At the same time, Francisco Espejo PP recalled that the contractors, hired by the City, issued reports to the Consistory although the direction of the work and its implementation did not correspond to the City Council, and stressed that the commission of investigation has found that The money that was invested came to the work.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FACTS

The drafting of the project began after a contest of ideas proposed by the City of Cartagena and the Autonomous Community with the dual objective of obtaining proposals for the development and construction of the auditorium as well as providing urban solutions to the environment.

Thus, the specifications for the pre-project contest made it clear that the auditorium would be located in the Port of Cartagena and should contain scenic box, acoustics, furniture and environmental suitability.

Despite this, they gather the conclusions of the commission, part of the cost of the work comes from various complementary works to provide the audience with furniture, stage and acoustic equipment, as well as the exteriors.

Thus, in February 2003, the contracting process for the works was initiated, and eight companies were presented, including Dragados, which considered it "insurmountable" to match the costs of the work with the budgets indicated in the tender.

On October 10 of that year signed the agreement to assign to the city of the plot of Port Authority where the auditorium would be located.

Then, Selgas assured that there were no obstacles for the construction of the building and that the document was signed according to the physical reality of the land.

On July 5, 2004, CS Proyectos y Construcciones was renamed Dragados and on August 2 of that year, the stake-out act was signed for the beginning of the works.

There is a letter signed by the head of the town planning area on 10 August 2004, also stating that "the modified project number 1 had already been received", justified by the need for a new foundation system, with an increase in Budget of 17%.

Another important date in this process is February 28, 2005, when the head of the infrastructure area drafted the technical specifications for the contracting of the architect for the direction of the work, which would fall on José Selgas.

On May 23, 2005, the government board approves the generation of credit in the 2005 general budget to deal with the modified and for this the company Aquagest is asked to advance the 2006 canon. On June 15, 2006, Selgas asked for the second modified, an increase of between 44 and 47%, following which, the City of Cartagena proposes the creation of a technical commission to monitor the works, on which the current commission of inquiry Concludes that "he did a good job".

In 2009, the modified number 3 was approved, and in 2010, the modified number 4. Finally, the Councilor for Finance, Selgas requested, on June 30, 2009, drafted the remaining four documents to complete the auditorium, which would be The stage equipment, for an amount of 8,300,000 euros;

The acoustic adaptation would be 1,878.00 euros;

The adjustment of the environment cost 4.5 million euros, with a grant from the Ministry of Culture of 1.5 million euros;

And, the supply of furniture, of 2,086,000 euros.

This contract meant differences between the municipal technicians and the architect, which ended with the preparation of a new contract without the participation of Selgas.

Already on October 21, 2011 were signed the minutes of reception of the works of the auditorium, in addition to those of the stage equipment, the acoustic adaptation and the suitability of the environment.

The furniture supply, meanwhile, was received in January 2012. Even so, the conclusions of the commission, the auditorium that was received were "defective", with deficiencies that have been brought to the attention of the company, Has been correcting them, although some arrive "until our days".

Source: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena