News
El Ingenio expands
Initial approval has been given to the
expansion of the shopping centre at El
Ingenio in Vélez-Málaga. Following the
green light from the town hall, the project
must now be subjected to public scrutiny
and an environmental impact study. The
site is owned by the Larios group which has
earmarked €25 million for future
development.
Sales down
The number of house sales in Málaga is
falling, according to last month’s data from
the National Statistics Institute. It says the
total for August was down 9.8% on the same
month last year with sales of existing
properties faring much worse than sales of
new homes. The report blames the new
mortgage law, as well as domestic and
international political stability for the
slump.
Toll-free?
The AP-7 toll motorway west of Málaga
may soon become free to use. The Partido
Popular has asked the provincial
government to scrap fees to encourage its
use instead of the A7 (the old N-340 road)
which has a high accident rate. They also
suggest the old road should be reserved for
public transport and cyclists.
Rubbish boats
Patrol boats off the coasts of Nerja, Torrox,
Algarrobo and Vélez-Málaga have collected
54,200 kilos of rubbish from waters close to
bathing areas. As in previous summers, the
boats worked from mid-June to mid-
September collecting plastics, wood, dead
fish, jellyfish and other matter from the
sea. Until next summer, a boat based at
Caleta de Vélez marina remains on stand-
by to be of service in emergencies.
Fire alert
Málaga airport was put on alert on October
15 after black smoke was seen billowing
from a fire at an empty site on the
Guadalhorce industrial estate. Reports said
the blaze had spread from its origin inside
a caravan. A number of flights were said to
have disrupted because of the hazard.
Spain suffers from
Thomas Cook fall
The Spanish Confederation of Hotels
and Tourist Accommodation has
warned that over 500 hotels will close
as a result of the collapse of the
Thomas Cook travel group in
September. It has been estimated that
1.3 million autumn and winter visitors
will now be unable to fly to Spanish
destinations.
The Confederation is predicting this
will result in losses in the tourism
sector running into hundreds of
millions of Euros. It adds that the
future also looks bleak for local
suppliers and subsidiaries.
The Spanish government has already
undertaken to invest €300 million in
the sector, to “deal with the urgency of
Thomas Cook’s failure.” Plans for lower
airport taxes to encourage visitors and
a tax holiday for workers in the sector
are also under discussion.
Thomas Cook flew over seven million
British tourists to Spain in 2018 but
this winter, according to the
government, 400,000 fewer people
will reach the Canary Islands, where it
is the high season. The first victim of
the crisis has been the Fuerteventura
Princess Hotel which had an exclusive
deal with Thomas Cook covering 95
per cent of its 688 rooms up to 2023.
Around 160 staff are to be laid off,
with estimates suggesting a further
3,400 others in the region’s tourism
sector are at risk.
The collapse of Thomas Cook may
also prompt a longer review of the
national tourism industry, which is
the country’s biggest business sector.
After six years of record numbers of
tourist arrivals which peaked at 82.8
million in 2018, a slump is now being
forecast. Government figures show
that growth in the sector for the first
eight months of 2019 was only 1.5 per
cent, suggesting stagnation may be
setting in.
Agreement on Málaga
metro extension
The final shape of the extension to
Málaga’s metro system appears to have
been decided. The line is planned to
run from the city centre to the area
which is home to both the Hospital
Materno Infantil and the Hospital Civil,
although there has been fierce debate
about whether the final stretch should
continue underground, or run above
ground.
Agreement appears to have been
reached on extending the metro fully
underground, now that the regional
government and the city of Málaga are
both controlled by the Partido Popular.
Until the regional election last year,
Andalucía was controlled by the
socialist PSOE party, a situation which
led to numerous disagreements with
the city authorities.
Announcing the decision last month,
the Regional leader Juanma Moreno
and Málaga’s mayor Francisco de la
Torre have talked of loyalty,
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transparency and cooperation between
the two bodies.
The new metro line, an extension to
the existing Line 2, will run from
Guadalmedina station, near El Corte
Inglés, 1.8 kilometres north to the
Hospital Civil with three stops along
the way. The completely subterranean
route will increase the total cost from
€41 million, when an overland section
was planned, to about €150 million,
according to the Public Works
Ministry.
It will have increasing importance
because a large area next to the
Hospital Civil, presently used for car
parking, is expected to be the site of a
major new hospital for the province.
This will add 840 beds and 49
operating theatres to the city’s health
care capacity. The hospital
construction project is expected to get
underway soon and work is scheduled
to be complete by late 2022.