Torrevieja still lacks an approved earthquake plan 15 years after regional mandate

Torrevieja remains without an officially approved municipal plan to respond to earthquakes, despite the Generalitat requiring its creation since 2011. The city is the most populated in Spain among those located in high-seismic-risk areas that still lacks this instrument. The process has encountered fresh delays after the authorities ruled out two of the three companies bidding to draft the document. Documentation has now been requested from Geolat Consultora, the sole candidate remaining in the tender process. By March 2025, 114 of Alicante’s 141 municipalities already had an approved plan in place, including 23 of the 27 in the Vega Baja region. Rojales was one of the first municipalities in the Valencian Community to implement one.

The obligation dates back to the Special Plan against Seismic Risk of the Valencian Community, approved by the Consell in April 2011. The document identified Torrevieja among the municipalities that were strictly required to prepare, approve, and submit their own plan for regional homologation. Torrevieja holds historical significance regarding earthquake risk in Spain. The tremor of 21th March 1829 devastated the Vega Baja region, causing 389 deaths across the area. The Generalitat plan categorises its surroundings as being among the most hazardous in the region.

The 2011 decree that approved the Special Plan establishes in section 4.1 that municipal planning must prioritise the 332 municipalities with an expected seismic intensity equal to or greater than VII. Torrevieja is included in this list. Fifteen years later, it has still not completed the process. Although the city has made progress in public awareness through large-scale drills, local residents lack a true culture of protection and prevention. Furthermore, supervision regarding compliance with earthquake-resistant building regulations in one of the cities with the highest urban development activity in the country remains limited, going little beyond what is indicated on paper by the Architects’ Association project visas.

The new contract, which carries a modest sum compared to the town hall’s usual tenders, amounts to 114,950€. The file was opened in September 2024, although the tender was not published until 4th May 2026. Geolat Consultora, Inteligencia Climática, and Sylvahabitat 2000 submitted bids and were initially admitted on 22nd May.

Sylvahabitat 2000 proposed a price reduction of 31.01 per cent. Technicians considered the offer abnormally low and requested justification for how they could carry out the work for that amount. The documentation provided failed to sufficiently prove staff costs, material resources, and claimed savings, leading the Governing Board to exclude the bid on 7 August.

Inteligencia Climática offered a 10.53 per cent reduction and was initially proposed as the winning bidder. However, it failed to prove the required experience: at least one similar consultancy contract worth 95,000€ excluding VAT. It presented eight certificates for work carried out in Alicante, Alcoy, Ontinyent, and Totana, but none reached the required amount individually. In addition, contract technicians noted that the classification codes for those jobs did not match what was required in the specifications. Although the firm corrected other deficiencies regarding the professional team and Social Security registrations, the Governing Board decided on 18th September to consider the offer withdrawn without penalty. Following thadditional documentationtion was requested in November from Geolat Consultora, which offered a 9.63 per cent reduction, to proceed with proposing the award.

This is not the first attempt by the local council. In September 2022, the town hall awarded a contract worth 18,029€ to Semerpro Emerg to draft an earthquake risk plan within three months. The delivered work was not validated by the Generalitat because its content was deemed insufficient. It was never approved nor did it enter into force, meaning the document must now be drawn up from scratch.

The new assignment also encompasses the Municipal Territorial Emergency Plan as well as plans for forest fires and large public gatherings. Of the 114,950€ budget, 70,785€ is reserved specifically for the earthquake document. The successful bidder will have nine months from the start of the service to draft the plans, which must then be processed for final approval and homologation by the Generalitat.