Privately funded 19m euro Spanish-Chinese 'friendship park' on Costa moves another step closer
Benalmádena council is confident that the project will attract tourists to the town because "it will be a benchmark facility in Europe"
Benalmádena Pueblo is closer to having a Spanish-Chinese friendship park. The full council session on Thursday gave the final approval to the urban planning instrument necessary to be able to execute this project, which comes with the backing of foreign investors. The September session gave the green light to the detailed study of the so-called Hispano-Chinese friendship park, which will be built on a municipal plot in Camino de la Fuentezuela, next to the current international cemetery near the bullring.
"It is a very special day," said urban planning councillor Presi Aguilera, who explained that this "meeting space" will serve the interests of Spain and relations with China. But the main objective in which the municipal government is absolutely confident is that this park will serve to attract tourists from China and other nationalities. "It is going to be a point of reference in Europe," added the mayor, Juan Antonio Lara. Although the investment was initially estimated at six million euros, Aguilera raised the figure to around 19 million.
The council is confident that the project will attract tourists to the town because "it will be a benchmark in Europe"
Arranged from north to south in a layout making use of the slope of the plot, the park, Aguilera said, will consist of four "clearly defined" areas. The central axis will be a Buddhist temple, to be built in the middle, with a height equivalent to an eleven-storey building. In addition, there will be a meditation area, a landscaped section integrated into the project and a fourth area devoted to memory.
The project will include a columbarium to house funerary remains, with a built area of 6,026.82 square metres. It will also feature a restaurant and a car park with capacity for 224 vehicles and four coaches, bringing the total built area to almost 7,000 square metres on a 24,000-square-metre plot.
Divided opposition
The study went ahead with the favourable vote of PP and IU and the opposition of PSOE and Vox. The socialists asked for the matter to be left on the table as it was not clear whether the car park was going to be managed by the public or private sector, or whether the relatives of the deceased whose remains are deposited in the columbarium were going to pay the same as in the municipal cemeteries. It also criticised the removal of car parking spaces used not only by vehicles but also by buses and the expulsion of the animal protection organisation Fidelio, which occupies a space on the plot. Lara refused to postpone the vote, considering that these were just "excuses" that they could have asked for clarification before the session.
Vox, for its part, rejected the project, considering that the location was not ideal; while Pablo Centella of IU-Podemos, who supported the initiative, asked the government team "not to spoil such a beautiful project with its mismanagement".
After the study, the next steps to be taken to implement the park will be the elaboration of the basic and execution projects that will allow the Chinese investors to obtain the building permit.
