The municipality has tripled its population in the last thirty yearsMuch is said about depopulation and rightly so, since it is one of the factors that will condition the development of the peoples of Spain, Almeria and the Almanzora region.
While our towns lose population due to their scarce development, due to the lack of opportunities, the inexistence of an industry that allows locals to settle in their place of origin, in the Lower Almanzora valley there is a municipality that has managed to attract population, mostly through residential tourism.
We speak of Arboleas, a town that in the mid-80s had 1,300 inhabitants, and currently has about 4,600. This town, which historically has been considered as a satellite of larger municipalities such as Albox or Huércal Overa, has managed, unlike many of its neighbours, to attract the attention of people from different countries - European and also national -, who now live in the municipality.
In order to know the reasons for this reality, it is necessary to go back to the middle of the 1980s. "In Arboleas we had 1,300 inhabitants and we did not know what to do to offer opportunities and not lose population," says the mayor of the municipality Cristóbal García. "At that time a German gentleman asked me if there were many ruined farmhouses in Arboleas, and indeed there were many and we did not know what to do with them. The German explained what he said would happen, and now I see that he was right. He enlightened us and thanks to him we paid attention to him, today Arboleas has 4,600 inhabitants".
The German, thirty years ago, when Spain joined the European Union, said one very important thing; in Europe there is a lot of money and little health. That reason would make people in a common area move in search of sun, good weather and a healthier and more enjoyable life. The first German came to Arboleas, and after him, European neighbours have not stopped arriving.
And that is what happened. Cristóbal García has many legislatures behind him and was responsible for laying the foundations for this development to be possible. "I was born in a farmhouse without water and without light. I know what it is not to have services, and therefore providing services to our districts was our first challenge. Many technicians, comrades in politics and so on treated us as crazy. Carrying 500 meters of pipes through the field was not profitable. But thanks to that, when neighbours from Europe started coming to Arboleas, we were ready. So much so that at present we are able to build 200 more houses.
In these years we also have to deal with telephone companies, because we also have to provide a good internet service to people, wherever they live, because that is what they have chosen for us and it is our responsibility to provide them with access to services".
Arboleas is almost the only town in Almanzora that has no urban problems. While we are chatting, we are in the industrial estate, where steel works and cleaning are being carried out. All legal, all planned, and that's why several entrepreneurs from neighbouring towns decide to settle there. Arboleas provides urban security to owners and entrepreneurs, difficult to find in the surrounding towns.
In the belief of that idea of the German, and in putting into practice the minimum conditions for its development, hides the response of the growth of Arboleas, a town that currently houses 29 percent of national neighbours and the remaining 71 per cent, are foreigners who have invested in the town, who pay taxes in the municipality and with it, allow the support of the local economy.
Even so, it serves as a complaint or the comparative grievance of which the Arboleans feel victim. With almost 5,000 inhabitants, we do not have the same services as towns with half the people. "It is not against anyone, it is that they simply treat us all equally," says the mayor of Arboleas who still hopes to have a higher ratio of doctors in his new Health Center (in Arboleas there is one doctor for every 1840 inhabitants, while in others municipalities there are every 700 inhabitants).
"We have only one ambulance and more than 400 boys and girls, but nevertheless we do not have a secondary school" adds Garcia for whom, from the administration point of view, they are still treated as they were thirty years ago.
From
http://lacomarcanoticias.com/portada/arboleas-el-pueblo-que-vencio-a-la-despoblacion/
