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September in Cartagena brings a peculiar irony to Calle del Carmen, the historic centre's busiest commercial street. While workers have already installed gleaming festival lights featuring Roman warriors complete with helmets, spears and shields for the upcoming Carthaginians and Romans festival, the sun canopies that were supposed to provide relief from the scorching summer heat are nowhere to be seen.

 

The €774,000 ‘Teselas’ project, intended to install Roman mosaic-inspired canopies that could reduce ambient temperatures by up to six degrees, according to University of Cartagena studies, remains stuck in bureaucratic limbo.

 

Last week's workers installing festival lights have departed, leaving behind only a few lonely anchors on the building facades, installed during a brief flurry of activity in August.

 

When asked about the installation timeline, municipal sources provided a vague response, stating that "an analysis of the level of execution and updated deadlines are being carried out to make decisions."

 

The sun canopy project has been riddled with mishaps from the beginning. Presented back in March, the initial tender stumbled when the only bidding company was excluded for incorrect documentation. After restarting, Pegiro won the contract, and by July the City Council promised installation "during the middle of this summer." August brought another announcement on the 12th declaring construction would begin. Workers appeared, anchors were installed and then everyone disappeared.

 

The timing has, understandably, become a source of frustration among local business owners.

 

"Putting up awnings now, after summer, is absurd. It's almost ridiculous," said Juliana Botero, a clerk at the Diocesan Bookstore on Calle del Carmen.

 

"I don't know if, if they had put them up, it would have cut off the airflow. And then, in addition to the shopkeepers, I think the residents should have been included. There are many elderly women who spend the morning at the window watching what's happening on the street. Maybe they don't like having their view blocked."

 

This isn't Cartagena's first failed shade attempt either. The success of similar projects on Málaga's Calle Larios or nearby Trapería in Murcia makes Cartagena's struggles more puzzling.

 

As September progresses toward summer's official end on September 22, most local business owners and shoppers agree that installing the awnings is a waste of time.

 

"Now that the cold is coming, what are they going to cover up? If it rained a lot here, they'd still be useful. But putting them up now for a month is absurd," one local concluded.

 

 

Image: Ayuntamiento de Cartagena