Malaga's Hospital Civil opens temporary car park with 750 spaces

The facility was ready almost four months ago, but it has only started operating now, although the regional ministry of health has not provided an official explanation for the delay other than the cumbersome nature of the administrative procedures.

Up until mid-morning, few users had made use of it and there had been little turnover, which is to be expected given the time of year. The real test of this car park's functionality will come in September, when things return to normal.

The main issue now are prices: members of the public pay 1.36 euros per hour and staff of the Andalusian health service (SAS) pay 0.61 euros.

Of all the spaces, 163 are reserved for healthcare staff, to be allocated strictly on a first-come, first-served basis. The service will be open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Trade unions demanded the immediate launch following the completion of the car park, although they consider the prices to be "exorbitant".

The construction of this temporary above-ground car park is phase zero of the Virgen de la Esperanza hospital project. The process began in January. The future hospital's permanent car park is also under construction at the moment.

The building that will house the car park will be seven storeys high, with three underground levels, providing a total of 839 parking spaces.

The third phase of the project involves the construction of the hospital: a building comprising four levels below ground level and eleven above ground, with a car park on levels minus two and minus three.

This car park will provide 928 spaces for cars and 128 for motorbikes (1,056 in total), with spaces reserved for healthcare staff and local residents. The operation contract covers a period of 23 years.

In total, the new hospital, due to be completed by the end of 2031, will have almost 2,000 parking spaces.

The local healthcare complex comprises Hospital Civil and and Hospital Materno Infantil, which means there is a massive influx of people going for diagnostic tests, surgical procedures and consultations every day. Those 2,000 parking spaces will be crucial to ensuring future access to healthcare in the Arroyo de los Ángeles area.

Incidentally, the metro will reach Hospital Civil in 2031, which will also alleviate the transport burden.

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