Plans for largest planetarium in Spain have ground to a halt some five years after it was first announced on the Costa del Sol
The attraction, expected to bring in 500,000 visitors a year, involves an astronomical investment of 10 million euors and it was slated for a plot of land next to the Ikea retail park in the city
Malaga's planetarium project has still not taken off, five years after the city council resolved the tender to award a municipal plot of land located next to the Campamento Benítez grounds and the Ikea shopping centre to private individuals for the construction of this project. The concession was won by a company formed by local engineering firm Gestomer, renowned Malaga astronomer Alberto Castro Tirado and the multinational Sky-Skan.
However, five years later, the project is still at a standstill. In a recent response to political organisation Con Málaga (IU and Podemos), the city's urban planning department (Urbanismo) said that the transfer of the plot to the planetarium's promoters has not yet been formalised because they have been required to "present a series of complementary documents". "Once they meet this requirement and are up to date with the payment of the fee, we will proceed to approve the transfer," Urbanismo said, suggesting that private parties have failed to pay the fee of 115,000 euros per year.
As SUR reported last year, Urbanismo approved the granting of planning permission for the construction of the planetarium in November 2023. However, this permit has not been issued because it was subject to a series of conditions to be fulfilled by the private parties. Among these conditions was the presentation of the project for the execution of the building, other urban planning documents and the payment of a deposit of 75,283 euros to guarantee the replanting on the same plot of land of the trees affected by the construction. Specifically, the construction of the planetarium involves the removal of 234 trees and the transplanting of a further ten.
In its response to Con Málaga, Urbanismo stated that the private owners had a maximum of six months to fulfil these conditions in order to obtain the licence. However, in May last year, they submitted a request for an extension to carry out these requirements "alleging the complexity and uniqueness of the approved project".
However, on 13 August, Urbanismo issued a formal notice to the business owners to demand that they comply with the conditions that were not completed for the issuing of the licence, giving them a period of 15 days to do so.
As the building permit has not yet been issued, the three-month deadline set in the tender for work to begin has not started to run from that administrative milestone. This non-compliance by the promoters entitles the city council to cancel the building permit. However, it is not yet clear whether Urbanismo will finally redirect this project to other private promoters.
The companies behind the proposal said that they are not at a standstill and that there will soon be news regarding the progress of the project. However, at the administrative level, the planetarium is deadlocked.
Ten million euros of investment
The construction work on the planetarium involves an investment of around ten million euros. As SUR reported in 2020, it will be the largest in Spain and one of the largest in the EU. Its projection room, with a capacity of 400 people, will have an internal diameter of 27 metres. It is planned on a plot of 8,659 square metres, next to the road that connects the N-340 with the Guadalmar motorway. The planetarium will have 116 parking spaces.
The tender for the awarding of this municipal plot of land for the construction of a planetarium was promoted by the city council following a proposal submitted by Jaén-based company AstroÁndalus. However, the winning bid was submitted by Málaga Planetarium.
The promoters expect around 500,000 visitors a year. Science and technology exhibitions will be held on one of the two floors of the building and there will also be a space for educational workshops on science and technology for young people.
Toni Morillas: "The company lacks technical and economic solvency and the city council has not ensured its viability"
Con Málaga's deputy spokesperson Toni Morillas has criticised the municipal government team for the management of the planetarium project, which she has described as yet another example of empty political hype. "It is a ghost project which remains paralysed because the company awarded the contract lacked technical and economic solvency and because the city council has not done its job of ensuring the viability of the initiatives put on the table," Morillas said.
According to her, "the mayor is dedicated to taking any proposal that comes from private companies, without rigorously checking its viability or solvency, as long as it serves to feed his political propaganda". "The result is that we have projects that are announced during the campaign, which generate expectations in the city and then come to nothing. With the planetarium, as with other projects, history repeats itself: catchy announcements, but zero results," she said.
Con Málaga demands "rigour and seriousness in the management of public resources and municipal land". "It cannot be that the municipal team continues to give away headlines and time to unviable projects that are nothing more than propaganda tools. Malaga needs certainty, solid and realistic projects, not sandcastles," Morillas stated.
