Private investors propose 20-room private hospital for Vélez-Málaga

The proposal, which includes a private hospital, 400 houses and logistic and commercial units, is pending two important infrastructure projects that are still in the pipeline, including the extension of the exit from the A-7 motorway towards Caleta de Vélez and developing the land to the north of Baviera golf and the motorway, along the Camino de Torrox road.

The Madrid-based group already owns two hospitals in Malaga city centre after a takeover last year; the Gálvez Hospital and the Santa Elena and Del Pilar clinic.

The plans for the private hospital include two operating theatres, 20 rooms and six outpatient rooms, among other facilities. According to mayor of Vélez-Málaga, Antonio Moreno Ferrer, the investors are "very interested", but the town hall would need to get approval from the Andalusian regional government before it can go ahead.

The investors argue that the hospital would make the Axarquía and Costa Tropical in Granada province more attractive to the foreign population, 80 per cent of whom, they say, have private medical insurance. According to their figures, 12 per cent of Spaniards in the area also have private medical insurance.

The town hall has said that there are other investors interested in developing the land, with proposals on the table to build a logistics and transport area, a project that has been in the pipeline for more than a decade.

The extension of the existing road requires an investment of 2.7 million euros, of which the town hall has set aside one million euros in this year's budget and has requested a further million from Malaga’s provincial authority, the Diputación.

The remaining 700,000 euros are to be financed from the sale of 13 municipal plots of land, from which the council hopes to acquire three million euros. "The development of these two areas is essential to continue moving forward and creating employment opportunities and wealth in Vélez-Málaga," said Moreno Ferrer.