Torrevieja local government board has approved an upward budget modification of 466.114€ for the works on the new municipal animal shelter, which was awarded to Construcciones Urdecon for 1.281.692€. This is a second cost overrun after a previous injection of 130.638€, bringing the total to 596.752€ and raising the contract cost to 1.878.444€, which represents a 46.5% increase.
According to Federico Alarcón, the councillor and secretary of the governing board, this change does not imply the suspension of the works. The project previously received a third deadline extension in July, granting another six months to complete an initiative that has accumulated several incidents and delays since its inception. The contract was awarded in August 2023, and construction began with the setting-out report on 13th November of that year. The works were subsequently suspended in April 2024 until the project was adapted to the demands arising from the Animal Welfare Law.
Following the restart signed on 8th April 2025, the work should have finished on 28nd January 2026. A second modification had already extended the deadline to 8th June 2026, which was eventually set for the upcoming 8th December.
Alarcón explained that during the course of the works there have been a series of unforeseen circumstances, such as needs related to the housing of gallinaceous birds, drainage or sanitation issues, and the impact derived from nearby facilities like the adjacent crane service, the gas station, and the ecopark to provide accessibility to the site. All of this is based on 100% technical circumstances, he assured.
Gallinaceous birds
It should be remembered that wild gallinaceous birds inhabiting municipal parks were provisionally housed in the shelter due to the avian flu situation. Areas of the work were conditioned to host them while the epidemiological situation improved and restrictions on the movement of birds were lifted.
The provisional housing of hens, roosters, and chicks also ended up affecting the progress of the works, according to a technical report. The birds were in an area adjacent to the construction site, and at the beginning of April, they began to show problems mainly linked to stress: evasive behaviour, feather pecking, plumage problems, and a drop in egg laying. The report considered that the execution of the work could be a determining factor in that stress, which is why environmental enrichment measures were expanded and work near the area where the birds remain was halted. With these measures, according to the document, social and self-induced pecking symptoms were reduced, and behaviour, plumage, and laying improved.
The file justifies the delays by the need to make the work compatible with the operation of the shelter and with the presence of animals in the facilities: the execution of fencing to separate phases of work, the reorganisation and relocation of facilities within the plot, the internal movement of the animals, a new wastewater connection, and the intervention of a veterinarian to guarantee animal care and welfare.