The submission of a single proposal in the tender to execute the expansion and rehabilitation of Vila-real's municipal cemetery has allowed a key intervention, considered a priority by the City Council, to proceed. This action is crucial given the lack of burial units and the conservation problems affecting the funeral enclosure. Although the procedure still needs to complete the award, everything indicates that the project will be able to go ahead if the company correctly accredits all the required documentation.

The tender, published in early March, includes an investment of 554,302.68 euros, VAT included, and an execution period of six months from the verification of the layout. The contract aims to strengthen the capacity of an essential public service and respond to a situation that the municipal file itself defines as urgent: the need to create new units for inhumations and rehabilitate spaces in the cemetery.

The project designed for the Vila-real cemetery proposes a wide-ranging action. On the one hand, it foresees the expansion of islands 2, 3, and 4 of the New Cemetery, where 144 new niches will be created. In addition, 30 more niches will be added in a new vertical pantheon, the construction of 300 attached columbariums, and the rehabilitation of 83 niche columns in the Old Cemetery, an intervention that will allow the recovery of another 332 spaces. In total, the action would enable 506 new graves and 300 columbariums, significantly increasing the capacity of the enclosure.

The action is not limited to gaining space. The project also includes the execution of an over-roof in several islands of the New Cemetery to stop water infiltration problems, as well as works to improve rainwater drainage in the southern area of the Old Cemetery, where intense rainfall episodes cause pooling that has rendered niches unusable. Furthermore, the construction of a new ossuary and the adaptation of pavements and passageways are contemplated to improve the general functionality of the enclosure.

The City Council had already carried out preliminary work, such as pruning trees in the spaces where the new niche blocks are to be erected, with the intention of speeding up the start of works once the award is formalized. Now, the participation of a company prevents the tender from being deserted, a scenario that would have forced the procedure to be restarted and further delayed an intervention that the council considers necessary to extend the useful life of the cemetery and meet the present and future needs of the population.