Government puts out two-million-euro tender to stabilise cliff near Parador de Nerja

The Spanish tourism board (Turespaña) has put out to tender the second phase of the project to protect and stabilise the cliff face on which the hotel complex stands, with a base budget of just under two million euros and a completion period of ten months. The announcement was published on Wednesday 24 September on the public sector procurement platform.

The project aims to complete the structural reinforcement of the cliff situated next to Burriana beach and involves the construction of platforms using breakwater walls, the installation of micropiles and pile caps, the erection of reinforced concrete walls and the installation of anchors. It also includes the restoration of an accessible footpath and works to ensure environmental integration and connection to external services.

The bulk of the budget is allocated specifically to stabilising the cliff face next to Burriana beach. The project allocates 727,905 euros for shoring up the overhangs, a further 433,981 euros for restoring the accessible footpath linking to Carabeíllo beach, and 113,885 euros for landscape integration and landscaping. In addition, there are allocations for external connections, impacts, health and safety and waste management.

The tender is being conducted via a simplified open procedure and the deadline for submitting tenders is 26 October at 7pm. The administrative documentation, as reviewed by SUR, sets the expected start date for the works, barring any setbacks, as November 2026. The total duration of the work will be ten months from the date of the certificate confirming the site layout and the start of the project.

The contract will be awarded solely on the basis of automatically quantifiable criteria. The financial bid will account for 65 per cent of the score, whilst the remaining 35 per cent will be based on technical aspects such as quality control, energy-saving and efficiency measures, a possible extension of the guarantee, and the team's experience in landscape integration projects such as the one designed for this section of the Nerja cliff.

The project has a long history of geological problems behind it. The technical documentation notes that as far back as 2001, rockfalls involving boulders measuring several metres in size occurred, although these came to a halt at the base of the slope without reaching the seafront promenade. Those incidents led to initial stabilisation works carried out in 2005, involving the installation of bolts, protective mesh and partial shotcrete.

The problems resurfaced years later. In 2013, several rocks weighing between 150 and 300 kilos were found to have fallen, following a previous report that had warned of the condition of the overhangs. Turespaña then commissioned further studies and kept the escarpment under close observation until, in October 2019, a technical inspection concluded that swift action was required in view of what the engineers considered to be a risk of rockfalls endangering property and people.

This situation led to an emergency declaration on 28 November 2019. The work began on 16 December of that year and were completed on 31 October 2020. During this work, it was established, as the project document itself now states, that a more extensive intervention was required, involving micropiles, diaphragm walls and active anchors. This led to the division of the works into two phases: an initial phase, which has already been completed, and this second phase, which is now being put out to tender.

The new development will coincide, for a time, with the comprehensive refurbishment of the Parador, which was awarded earlier this year to Constructora San José for 29.4 million euros, including VAT, with a completion period of 24 months. Work is currently underway and has so far focused on the almost complete demolition of the buildings opened in 1965.

The hotel has been closed since October 2025 and if the planned deadlines are met, it is expected to reopen around the beginning of 2028. The project involves renovating the current 98 rooms to increase the total to 103, as well as refurbishing communal areas, facilities, gardens, the swimming pool, car parks and accessibility features.

The chairwoman of Paradores, Raquel Sánchez, defended during the presentation of the project in October 2025, stating that the establishment "has been a benchmark, but the passage of time calls for a complete refurbishment" to bring it into line with new standards of quality, accessibility, sustainability and efficiency.

The mayor of Nerja, José Alberto Armijo (PP), described the project at the time as "a strategic investment" and maintained that the new complex should become "what 21st-century tourist Nerja deserves".

The second phase of the cliff-top development now adds almost two million euros more to this transformation of the historic state-run establishment.

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