Delayed. Prison on the Maó to Sant Lluís road to open a year after original date set

Delayed. Prison on the Maó to Sant Lluís road to open a year after original date set

C.M.W.Maó14/02/11 0:00
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Delayed due to modifications to the original plans, the completion date for the prison being constructed on the Maó to Sant Lluís road has now been set for two to three months time. The State Administration's Island Director, Javier Tejero, denied that the latest delay had been caused by problems in financing the work and explained that it was due to a second change to the project, which would increase the car parking facilities. The first modification to the original design was to reduce the size of the watch tower in order to lessen the prison's visual impact.

Tejero affirms that the work is now in its final phase and that the prison could be inaugurated before summer, one year after it was due to have been completed.

This is the second time that delays in the work have raised speculation that some of the subcontractors employed on the project have not been paid, a fact roundly denied by Tejero last August and also by COPCISA, the company that is responsible for the building together with its temporary partners, Construcciones Olives; the Island Director claiming that "the State is paying and is doing so on time".

At present, in addition to introducing modifications to provide more car parking space, kitchen items and security equipment are being fitted and personnel are being employed to work in the prison, some of whom will be transferred from other areas, others will be newcomers. In total 150 jobs will be created.

In respect of the arrival of the prisoners, Javier Tejero stated that "this will be gradual". He explained that the recent opening of two other prisons, in Murcia and Las Palmas, with a combined capacity for around 4,000 prisoners, had led to the Menorca prison being "sized" according to the island's needs and that it would principally house prisoners from the island who currently have to serve their sentence in Palma. The new centre on the Sant Lluís road will be able to accommodate 200 prisoners, some of whom will be transferred from prisons elsewhere.

The prison's official name has still to be decided but Tejero says that, in line with the naming of other centres, it will not take the name of the town in which it is located but will be named after a person.