Malaga city goes it alone on concert hall plans without central government help: possibly out to tender in 2026

After years of studies and debate on the options for undertaking a project that exceeds 200 million euros, Malaga's mayor Francisco de la Torre announced on Wednesday that construction of the planned auditorium on the San Andrés port platform will be put out to tender in 2026. He will finance it by resorting to credit from the banks as he has not received government funding from Madrid. His request for 45 million euros was refused.

De la Torre's calculations to cover the 209 million euros that the auditorium would cost include a municipal contribution of some 20 million euros (five from the city council's budget for next year, which was also presented on Wednesday, four from last year's budget and nine million euros that Malaga port will contribute in exchange for a logistics site in El Tarajal), then 25 million euros from regional government , ten million euros from Malaga's provincial authority (the Diputación) and the rest (some 155 million euros) through bank loans that city hall will request.

"We can talk to the banks to review the numbers and we will put out the tender to contract the construction work. It's a perfectly manageable issue, I'm very confident," said De la Torre. He added that he is equally confident that this project can be financed with 110 million euros in contributions from companies acting as patrons of this major cultural endeavour.

The mayor intends to start attracting these private 'partners' over the course of about five years, once the building work starts, a milestone that he has not ruled out for 2026, although he has admitted that the process of contracting a project of this importance will take several months.

The mayor made this announcement during the presentation of the municipal budget for next year, a budget that he expects to be approved between January and February and one that is very similar to this year's. To be precise, Malaga city council's proposed budget for 2026 amounts to 1.234 billion euros, 22 million euros less than last year's.

Regarding the debt with banks, to which De la Torre plans to turn so work can begin on the auditorium, he explained that city hall's consolidated debt will decrease from 150 million euros to 89 million euros to maintain a budget similar to that of 2025. Thus, the governing team anticipates a reduction in the debt ratio from 48% to 35%, including loans to finance construction of subsidised housing. However, this does not include the 155 million euros in loans that city hall would have to raise to begin construction of this major arts and culture facility.