Malaga resumes 20-year-old project for 50 social housing units in city centre

It has taken two decades for the Andalusian regional government (Junta) to finally launch a project to build 50 subsidised housing units on a large plot of land in the northern Perchel district in Malaga.

The regional ministry of public works finally put the project out to tender on Friday. The residential development costs 8.7 million euros and has an 18-month construction period. The deadline for submitting bids is 21 May.

The Junta had planned to entrust the execution and operation of this project to a private developer through a land transfer tender. In November last year, however, it announced that it would carry out the construction directly, without the involvement of the private sector.

Architect Luis Machuca is behind the design of the project on Calle Cerrojo. He has now modified the plan to include a basement with 50 parking spaces, respecting the archaeological remains that have been found on the site.

Of the 50 flats, 41 will have two bedrooms, six will have three and three will have one.

This is not the Junta's only pending social housing project in Malaga. There are other similar cases, where the regional government has planned to develop land through collaboration with private companies.

Some of these plots stem from the failed 'tecnocasas' plan that the regional government agreed upon with the city council in 2005. This blocked a significant number of plots in the city centre for the construction of rental housing with a co-working space.

The Andalusian housing and rehabilitation agency (Avra) has not moved forward with construction on two of these plots for 20 years. As per the plan, the two plots involve the construction of 28 flats and the same number of parking spaces and storage units between Calle Alta and Calle Parras (1,162 square metres) and 40 flats and 40 parking spaces on Calle Cobertizo del Conde (1,239 square metres).

Two other plots of land the Junta has put aside for the construction of social housing are located in Plaza de San Pablo, in the Trinidad neighbourhood. They have the capacity to house 17 and 25 homes. These spaces have also remained vacant for years, with no firm commitment from the regional government. Their future depends on discussions with the city council regarding the municipal project to build a three-level underground car park for residents in the square and beneath the three plots surrounding it (two for social housing and a third for the future headquarters of the brotherhood of Jesús Cautivo). The car park will have a capacity of approximately 300 spaces.

The exchange of plots with the city council to make possible the project of the brotherhood headquarters has left in the hands of the Junta another plot for 24 social housing unit that the city council owned on Calle Pilar Lorengar, opposite the Quirón hospital.

Furthermore, the Junta has also failed to carry out the rehabilitation of the so-called Corralón de las Dos Puertas, between Calle Curadero and Calle Rosal Blanco in the El Molinillo area. More than a decade has passed since this 1900 building, which is under architectural protection, was vacated, without the Andalusian regional government taking any action to restore it. It is one of the properties included in the list endangered Spanish heritage the Hispania Nostra association compiles.