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Ignacio Lillo
Malaga
Wednesday, 25 September 2024, 15:52
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The Port Authority has threatened to withdraw the planning licence for Malaga city's Torre del Puerto project if the developers do not submit key documents within the next two months.
The developers, integrated in the concessionary company Andalusian Hospitality II (run by the Qatar fund Al Alfia and Hesperia Hotels) want to build a 116-metre-high luxury hotel on the esplanade of the Levante dock.
However, the Port Authority requested more details from the developers who were given a period of eight months to present more documents, such as showing the details necessary to apply for a building permit. This is the document the Port of Malaga intends to submit to the national government's Cabinet for final approval. However, the Port Authority is now deciding whether to grant the promotor's request for an extension of up to four months. No decision has yet been taken on the matter, according to Carlos Rubio, president of the Port Authority.
As SUR has reported, according to the initial deadline, there are currently only two months to go before what should be the project's final approval on 6 November.
Rubio pointed out that, to date, they do not know at what level the work is at on the part of the developers, as they have not shown any advance payment for the work. Although the concessionaires have the right to request a maximum extension of four months, the Port has the power to control the deadline extension.
So far, the port's head said he does not know the luxury hotel brand that will take over operations at the site, as well as the architectural firm. "They have asked for an extension and now we are going to evaluate all the circumstances, to see if we can give it to them or not, and for how long. No decision has been taken yet," Rubio said.
If the extension is granted, it would set a "deadline" to obtain details that meet all project requirements. What the president has no doubts about is what will happen if the requested documents do not arrive within the deadline that is finally determined, which could extend until March 2025.
"If the final project is not presented within the deadline, the concession will be withdrawn and the guarantee, valued at 2.3 million euros, will be forfeited," Rubio said. "We have no intention of scrapping it and, if they comply, we will be delighted. If they don't, we'll have to abandon it and start all over again."
In the event that this measure is taken, the Port Authority would be in a position to put the project out to public tender again, so that any other national or international investment and hotel group could bid for it.
The ground has been prepared as the urban planning process, which has been dragging on for some seven years, has already been completed.
Another issue is that the whole project is now subject to the judicial process of the two contentious-administrative appeals it faces, which will determine both whether it can be done and the deadlines. In the event the court determines that it can be done, it will ultimately be the Spanish government that will give it the final seal of approval.
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