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Malaga
Thursday, 2 January 2025, 21:33
The balance between Malaga's tourist success and the problem of access to housing, an issue that has become particularly relevant throughout 2024 in Malaga city, was very present in the speech that the city's mayor, Francisco de la Torre, gave to citizens in his New Year speech. In his message, recorded in the refurbished Casa de Socorro del Llano de Doña Trinidad, which has been converted into a hub for the creative industries, De la Torre boasted of Malaga's increasingly important role in the technological sector, but also defended it as a tourist power and encouraged local residents not to forget that this sector is "the most important for the local economy".
"Malaga is the Spanish city with the highest growth in terms of hotels and overnight stays," De la Torre said, while highlighting the need to "increase the quality of our offer" and defending the restrictions approved to curb the proliferation of holiday accommodation as "the answer to the proper functioning of a basic sector".
"We cannot allow tourism to be despised," he said, adding, "Let us be measured and sensible: the success of our city and our province can only be explained and understood on the basis of tourism. Many Malaga residents make their living from tourism and without tourism we would not have been able to create a technological Malaga or a cultural Malaga. Without the synergy of our three strengths, Malaga would not be what it is today."
As for the housing crisis, which brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets in demonstrations in June and November, De la Torre remarked that it is an issue "common" to the rest of Spain. "Buying and renting is too expensive. Not only in Malaga, but throughout Spain, in any of the main cities of the country. The diagnosis is common: there is not enough building what the demand requires, there are more new homes than new homes and the rise in prices is well above the increase in salaries," he explained.
Likewise, he once again defended the city council's management of subsidised housing, with "3,338 subsidised housing units" of which "1,041 are under construction and 2,297 are in the process of tendering, planning or obtaining land"; and he called on the central government to "take the initiative" and release European funds so that more subsidised flats can be built.
The mayor also recalled the meetings being held with his counterparts in the Malaga metropolitan area to promote projects. "By improving the metropolitan area, those who wish to come to Malaga to work and live do not necessarily have to opt for the city centre," he said.
Similarly, he praised the collaboration with the state and regional administrations to achieve what he considers to be "the most important news of the year in Malaga": the announcement that the Technology Park will host the first branch of IMEC, a technological institute of the Belgian city of Leuven, which "will create hundreds of jobs". De la Torre said, "We must celebrate it and strive to extend it to other pending issues, such as the coastal train or the music auditorium."
The mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz, addressed the town's residents to wish them a happy new year and to highlight growth figures in the economic, tourism and demographic spheres. "We have the best employment figures in history", the mayor said in a message in which she pointed out that "we will continue to work together in 2025 to consolidate our position as a tourist destination and, above all, to generate a better quality of life for our residents".
Muñoz highlighted the nearly 90 million euros of investment in infrastructure that have been completed, are being executed or that were processed in 2024. Another of the areas she wanted to emphasise was that of social rights where she said spending on these policies "has been the highest in history, with 15 million euros and more than 33,000 families attended to". Marbella faces 2025 with the challenge of finalising its urban planning, a milestone that Muñoz highlighted for the new year.
The mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, took stock of 2024 and painted the roadmap for 2025 in his message, in which he highlighted "the culmination of the great transformation that the town is undergoing". This will be the end of the work on the boulevard which is already under way and will put the finishing touch to a change in the town's Calle Terraza. Likewise, one of the main milestones of 2024 was the commitment to cultural spaces and in particular the Mirador del Carmen. "We are proud of this facility which is unique in our country for housing such important spaces as the music conservatory, an exhibition hall, an eight-storey library, an auditorium and panoramic views of the coast," he said. Apart from this, the town hall is still aiming to reduce the inherited debt to 10 million in 2025 in order to be able to lower taxes.
The mayor of Torremolinos, Margarita del Cid took to social media to take stock of 2024 and advance the lines of work in 2025. A message in which she highlighted the opening of the Isabel Manoj community development centre and the Vicente Aleixandre square in El Calvario, where the 'Bird of Paradise' mural, by the graffiti artist Bosska, is a symbol of urban regeneration. She said: "2025 will be a good year for María Barrabino's house". Del Cid finished her message by saying, "I pledge to continue working for a Torremolinos that deserves everything. Happy 2025, we will continue."
"The absolute conviction that we are on the right path makes me proud and inspires me to welcome 2025 with open arms," said the mayor of Mijas, Ana Mata, during her speech. In it, she said that one of her priorities for the new year is to "address the housing problem", for which she recalled that they are working on promoting the construction of 557 public housing units, both for sale and rent.
The mayor of Nerja, José Alberto Armijo, reiterated his "commitment to work so that, together, Nerja and Maro continue in the right direction". In his speech, Armijo had "words of remembrance, affection for all those who suffered from the Dana" in Valencia.
The mayor of Ronda, María de la Paz Fernández, chose the Camino del Desfiladero del Tajo to give her speech, as it is an "iconic" project that was launched in 2024 and has already been visited by more than 100,000 people. It will be completed in 2025 with a footbridge at the bottom of the Tagus. "2025 is loaded with great objectives that we are going to meet, with investments that will generate employment," said the mayor, who highlighted her administration and other achievements such as obtaining the land of the La Concepción barracks to build a car park.
The mayor of Fuengirola, Ana Mula, said she was "deeply proud" of the "model and benchmark" that Fuengirola has become. This she said in her New Year's speech, in which she reviewed some of the "strategic projects" launched in the town over the course of 2024. Among them, the Mercacentro works, "the emblem of the new Fuengirola" or the 39 new public housing projects. "This is just the beginning, 2025 will be full of initiatives that will consolidate Fuengirola in the pre-eminent position it already occupies," she said.
The mayor of Benalmádena, Juan Antonio Lara, encouraged all residents to boost local commerce with their purchases during the festive season. In his speech he also said that "2025 is full of excitement and new projects" and pledged to continue improving "our infrastructure and streets" because "we want to continue to be a benchmark of well-being, quality of life and continue to grow in social, educational and cultural projects". He added, "Benalmádena is a heart that beats with the strength of its three nuclei and has everything to stay."
Water, transport and the historic centre were the main themes of the speech given by the mayor of Vélez-Málaga, Jesús Lupiáñez. He said he hoped that 2025 would "bring news about the much-needed desalination plant, the improvement of communications, the widening of the A-356, the completion of the Caleta de Vélez slip road, and that Vélez-Málaga will be part of the feasibility study of the coastal train from Nerja to Campo de Gibraltar".
The mayor of Torrox, Óscar Medina, wished "a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" to the 21,583 inhabitants of the Axarquía town in his speech. "I hope that 2025 comes with health, with well-being, with water, and the truth is that the best years are yet to come," added the mayor, who has been in office since 2015.
The mayor of Coín, Francisco Santos celebrated the incorporation of the municipality into the transport consortium in his end of year speech. However, he stressed that the improvement of the Guadalhorce roads remains a priority for 2025, both in terms of "road safety" and "connection" with the Costa del Sol and Malaga.
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