Malaga city council halts Plaza Mayor expansion project due to traffic concerns

Malaga city council has halted the plan to expand the Plaza Mayor shopping centre after nearly five years of planning procedures. The project is in the city council and the regional government's acceleration programme, but concerns over potential traffic disruptions are challenging its progress.

The project developers remain hopeful that they will receive authorisation in the coming months.

According to sources, Malaga's transport department has issued a new report expressing doubts about the potential impact this expansion will have in an area that already suffers daily traffic jams. This is the third time the municipal department has expressed such concerns.

The project involves adding 14,000 square metres to expand the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet eastward and another 7,500 square metres to expand the existing Plaza Mayor shopping centre westward, where it will occupy part of the car park next to the Guadalmar motorway.

This new negative traffic report has analysed the various actions that the owners of Plaza Mayor were ready to implement to improve traffic in the area. These include widening the Churriana road interchange under the airport road, restricting access to Plaza Mayor from Avenida Monserrat Caballé, implementing traffic management within the shopping centre, widening the southern carriageway of the Guadalmar motorway to two new lanes, improving the layout of the golf course road and constructing a transport interchange with a park-and-ride facility for 1,100 vehicles, which would connect to the commuter rail and city buses.

The report also mentions the widening of the commuter rail line and the northern access to the airport - projects that depend on the central government.

Plaza Mayor is also currently constructing a new road to improve access to the shopping centre, connecting it to the old N-340 highway. This project, with a cost of almost four million euros, includes the construction of a tunnel beneath the commuter rail line.

The city council's transport department technicians, however, still consider these infrastructure projects insufficient and question the timelines, as some depend on public institutions. They state that these improvements would not be enough. The transport department acknowledges that "improvements are noticeable" on some roads, but "congestion remains" on others.

However, the municipal traffic technicians have given the owners of Plaza Mayor another chance to demonstrate that a further expansion of the commercial area will not cause traffic gridlock in the area. The owners have submitted a new traffic study, taking into account a timeframe of more than 20 years.

The developers of the project haven't given up hope and are confident that this new study will lead to an authorisation from the municipal traffic department.

Another point of concern, however, is that the environmental report the regional government issued four years ago expires on 24 June. If the amendment to the general urban development plan (PGOU) isn't approved before that date, the city council will have to request a new environmental assessment.

The companies that own the shopping centre (Plaza Mayor Shopping, Doc Málaga Siteco and Doc Málaga Siteco Phase 2) anticipate a cost of 105 million euros. They will compensate for the loss of surface parking spaces with new underground spaces, bringing the total to 3,846.

According to the urban development agreement from 2021, in exchange for including this project in the planning regulations, the municipal coffers will receive 3.8 million euros (paid in two installments). The city will also gain a 53,725-square-metre recreational park next to the San Julián area. This park will include a football field, which will cost the Plaza Mayor developers 1,611,750 euros.