Motorway maintenance is put out to tender

Joan Collins THE Council of Majorca has put the motorway maintenance contracts for Ponent, Sa Pobla and Llucmajor out to tender for a value of 17.2 million euros for 2006 and 2007. The Council has divided the motorway maintenance into two geographic sectors. One includes the maintenance of the Ponent (Ma-1) motorway, the Ring Road (Ma-20) and the Llucmajor (Ma-19) motorway. Among the conditions for awarding the maintenance contract is that in 2006 the winning company will invest 4.3 million euros, and in 2007 5.3 million euros, 9.6 million in total. The successful company will be responsable for the supervision, signing, emergency works, gardens, and lighting. They will also have to keep the road and adjacent areas clean, collecting rubbish and repairing ditches and gutters as necessary. Signs should be maintained in good order and the company will be responsable for repositioning signs, posters or metal barriers. At the same time they will be responsable for the lighting, reviewing and repairing it as necessary. The other sector of the maintenance will be for the Ma-13 motorway, which is the Inca motorway, and the dual carriageway which links to Alcudia. This contract will also be for two years with the possibility of extending it for two more. The company will be expected to invest 3.5 million euros during 2006 and 4 million during 2007, 7.5 million euros in total. Gonzalo Aguiar, the Council of Majorca's director of Roads, has stressed the annual investment of 8.6 million for the maintenance of motorways. In fact, as he explained, during the last few years the budget for maintenance has increased considerably and the aim is to spend up to 23 million euros on maintenance next year. The Council of Majorca also wants to start an awareness campaign so that people don't dump rubbish on the roads.