I thougt for a while we were going to have to rename this thread the "I love Gordon" thread . I do believe in supporting local businesses and Gordon did all our work to and we are very happy with everything he did.

I'd also recommend the new Me Gusta restaurant that has opened on the Paseo at Carvajal next to Rossini's where the old Enigma restaurant used to be. When he opened in December Kris, the Danish owner, set his prices quite high but he has brought them down now to a reasonable level. He has spent quite a bit on the restaurant and employed a proper chef who you can see working in an open kitchen.    

 What kind of cuisine is it?

Good question RG. It is certainly not Spanish. The chef has worked with Jamie Oliver at some time but it is not English either. The menu is relatively short as he is trying to do a limited number of dishes well. 6 or 7 starters. Main courses of veal, steak, lamb, pork plus 2 or 3 fish dishes + 1 vegetarian.  

We get a lot of phone calls at the moment about the water situation. There is currently a problem with the water pressure. The maintenance company is aware of it and is working on it.

We had a major underground leak. As our metered water was running away at an alarming rate it had to be fixed which necessitated turning the water off. It is now fixed and the water is back on. Apologies for the lack of notice for the interuption to supply

I found an interesting article regarding the train line in the Sur paper.  Maybe if someone could find an email address for the President of the Junta de Andalucía, Manuel Chaves, to complain about our road, maybe something might get done.

EXISTING LINE. Costa trains from Malaga currently only run as far as Fuengirola. / CARLOS MORET

 

 

A complicated connection

One of the technical aspects of the Costa del Sol rail project still to be decided is the connection between the two stretches of line that will meet in Fuengirola. The problem is that the current ‘Cercanías’ trains between Malaga and Fuengirola use lines with the Spanish national gauge which are not suitable for very high speeds. On the other hand the brand new line will be built to international gauge and will permit speeds of up to 250 kilometres per hour.

The solutions favoured by the central and regional governments differed and so the Ministry of Development commissioned a technical study which is still in progress. Last year, however, the President of the Junta de Andalucía, Manuel Chaves, announced that the Costa del Sol trains would travel at 200 kilometres per hour between Malaga and Estepona.

The Ministry of Development is currently working on the lines that will run beneath Malaga Airport.

 

The future coastline train, which will eventually link Estepona with Fuengirola and Malaga, has been provisionally diverted to Europe, where the Junta de Andalucía is seeking funding for the scheme. The plans have now been submitted to the European Investment Bank (EIB), Junta sources told SUR at the end of last week.

The news confirms the announcement made in December by Junta President Manuel Chaves, after a meeting with the bank’s chairman, Philippe Maystadt, who signed a loan for the construction of social housing. Then Chaves had spoken of the possibility of submitting several projects to the EIB, including the Costa railway.

The EIB was created in 1958 by the Treaty of Rome as the long-term lending Bank of the European Union. It lends funds to the public and private sector for projects of European interest.

The Costa del Sol railway is expected to cost a total of 4,000 million euros. Responsibility is shared by the Department of Public Works and Transport at the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministry of Development. The Junta’s share involves building the new line between Fuengirola and Estepona while the central government is to lay a new track along the existing line between Malaga and Fuengirola and connect the two sections.

The idea is that in the future the line will continue west as far as Algeciras and east to Motril.

Double tunnel

This year the Junta has set aside eight million euros for the project and the contract is due to be awarded for the first stretch of new line, between Las Lagunas and La Cala de Mijas, which is expected to cost a total of 221 million euros. The authority is currently studying the 16 bids made for the 221 million euro contract.

The stretch in question, with a timescale of 42 months, involves the construction of a double tunnel of almost four kilometres in length using a tunnelling machine.

In fact, of the 56.6 kilometres between Fuengirola and Estepona, 90 per cent will go underground and the line will be suitable for trains travelling at up to 250 kilometres per hour. The service will eventually provide a competitive alternative to the private vehicle with journey times of 11.5 minutes between Estepona and Marbella and just ten minutes between Fuengirola and Marbella.

 

I was listening to Simon Calder (travel journalist) on the radio and he said that train / rail projects throughout Europe are notorious for not happening quickly.  Main reason seemed to be, what has been highlighted here, different track guages.

Plus of course roads are still king but I read in Sur that there had been a reduction in passengers flying from Malaga to Madrid due to the high speed rail link.

I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for improvements, especially now everwhere / everyone has the 'credit crunch' as an excuse not to spend money.

23  white vans parked in and around  'Don Juan 3'  today, no where to park for us residents, but great news that they are cracking on with it.      Does anyone know the original completion dates for phases Two and Three?

Hi Calv,

In response to my enquiry back in November 2006 re Don Juan Phase III, Perla of Arrohabitatge emailed me back mentioning a completion date of November 2008....

Hi All

I know the electric bills are every 2 months, but we had an extra payment taken out on the 29th of December. Has this happened to anyone else. Does anyone know the reason why.

Westport

Hi Westport,  yes we also had an extra payment taken out on that date.  Sorry as yet don't know the reason  ( it was 40 euros)

HI.

         I had an e-mail from my solicitor approx 1 month ago regarding the electricity payments, I was informed then,  that the electricity company are  changing their payment schedule from two months to each month. this will, i f your bank charges for every transaction, result in having to pay more bank charges.   Hope this helps.

                                                                                                                                          Bevron.

I just read this article below. Maybe we should all go on strike to get the road finished, and money owed from the developer :-)

Hunger strike ends as developer pays up

A Romanian businessman has abandoned his 20 day long hunger strike after the promotor who owed his building company 700,000 euros finally paid up.

Damian Catalin and his Spanish business partner, Julián Martín, have been camping outside the doors of the Obrum construction company in Madrid for the past 20 days, along with another eight members of their staff.

Last Saturday, dozens of business people from all different industries, joined the protest as a mark of solidarity.

Catalin's company, Romtectabi S.L., issued a statement on January 26th confirming that he had received 95% of the money owed to him and as a consquence had now ended his hunger strike.

Catalin, who employs some 200 people, 150 of them Romanian, thanked the public for the support he had received during his protest.

The Barometer is falling

its time to start calling

have we chosen right

no corry tonight

its all in the mix

its all in the fix

We paid top dollar

to wheather the weather

No licence to pay

No TV today

Hi E and A i have sent you a p/message i hope its who i think it is bye irene/peter

For information

The water suply to our apartment was just stoped without any information to us. That gives us very big problems because we have rent out week 6. Our layer will try to open it on monday, but take care that you are not coming into the same situation!!!

I have to pay the layer about 175 EURO and I don´t know how much to get the water back again.I can not understand that I haven´t get any information before!!!

Kind regards

Svend blok 7 2 D

For information

The water suply to our apartment was just stoped without any information to us. That gives us very big problems because we have rent out week 6. Our layer will try to open it on monday, but take care that you are not coming into the same situation!!!

I have to pay the layer about 175 EURO and I don´t know how much to get the water back again.I can not understand that I haven´t get any information before!!!

Kind regards

Svend blok 7 2 D

Its a fair point that Svend makes, we are never informed of changes or updated on important matters.  We all get our info from here, and correct me if I'm wrong this is still very much an unofficial source.  Should we not all be e-mailed or receive letters from the admin company when there is new information?.  I bet there is a few more owners arriving to find they have no water.   I wonder where the Spanish owners get all their information from?

Hi it is an unofficial site but it is the best site i think for all the English speaking people who have a computer that's why i and lot of us use this site.Also some of the owners have stated to sign up and use Skype over Xmas and we gave each other our emails so we can talk to the owners at don juan each day and we keep each other up to date with what is going on there,and its great to see each other on the web cams.I think they have put a letter about the water on the notice boards in each block but that is no good when you arrive and have no water bye Irene

Calv is right that this is not an official communication website and Irene is also right that this is the best we have for now. I do check here daily and if I know the answer to any issue raised will answer it or if I don't will find out and reply later. In fairness all owners were informed by GICS that they needed to sign for their water.

We have had people who have signed for their water but still were not connected when the meters were fitted. We have also had people who had not signed and were also cut off. Unfortunately in both cases these issues have to be sorted out with Gestagua. The Community is not able to re connect your water supply. All we are able to do (and have done) is provide containers of water to tide you over until Gestagua connect you.