Mayor of Malaga plans to contract 30 multi-million-euro projects in pre-election year

With just over a year to go before the next mayoral election at the end of May 2027, Malaga city council has published its works contracting plan for the current financial year. The document is striking for the large number of projects that the local government team plans to activate this year and the significant economic volume of a large part of them.

The plan foresees starting the contracting processes for some 30 million-euro investments that have been pending for years and which would represent the largest set of actions by Francisco de la Torre in his 25 years as mayor.

The major projects in the contracting plan for this year total some 356 million euros, excluding IVA taxes. These include the music auditorium (167 million euros plus IVA); the extension of the Fycma fair and trade centre (54.4 million); a new municipal office building next to Tabacalera (29.4 million) to relocate some of the existing offices still in the Casona del Parque; an asphalting plan in districts and industrial areas (28 million); the reform of the promenade in the El Palo district (11.8 million); the maritime park in the Baños del Carmen (6.8 million); the remodelling of Avenida de Andalucía (five million); the construction of the 'plaza-bridges' over the Guadalmedina riverbed. (5.3 million euros for the drafting).

According to sources, the city council will put the contract for the 'plaza-bridges' project out to tender in the second quarter of this year with a completion period of three years - the estimated time for the final design to be fully defined and approved.

There are many other investments that the city council plans to put out to tender this year, some of them in districts such as Cruz del Humilladero, Las Flores and Capuchinos, with European funds that must be spent before 2029.

There are also projects that have been in the pipeline for years such as the plan to facilitate access to Mount Gibralfaro, the extension of the coastal path, the fairgrounds in Campanillas, etc.

The mayor has announced his aim to put out to tender the work for the construction of the music auditorium this year. The regional government and the provincial authority are collaborators in this project.

The city council also plans to activate this year the extension of the Palacio de Ferias on the plot where the surface car parks are located, according to a design by the architect Ángel Asenjo.

A municipal building will be constructed on a plot south of the existing football field behind the Ave María school to relocate some of the departments that are currently in the Casona del Parque.

The urban planning department plans to initiate a framework contract of almost 30 million for asphalt improvements in several districts and business parks.

With the renovation of the Pedregalejo promenade under way, the urban planning department has initiated a public consultation process for a similar project on the El Palo promenade.

Another project that has been pending for years is the maritime park in the area of the Baños del Carmen.

The environmental sustainability department plans to contract the drafting of the final design of controversial 'plaza-bridges' over the Guadalmedina riverbed.

The urban planning department also plans to put out to tender the work for the first phase of the renovation of Avenida de Andalucía, which will include playgrounds and a bicycle lane in the median.

After more than a decade of proceedings, the tender for the Campanillas fairground project, consisting of a large public square and a building for public use, is expected to be launched.

The urban planning department will invite tenders this year for the construction of a sports centre at the junction of Avenida Jane Bowles and Calle Bruckner, which will have a court with stands, among other uses.

More than three million euros are set aside for improvement works and repairs in public school buildings, which in some cases are in a poor state of conservation.

One of the areas that has experienced the greatest population growth in recent years is the Teatinos district, where the city council plans to build a community centre for its residents in the Bizcochero-Capitán area.

The plan to improve and open Mount Gibralfaro as a forest park has been delayed for a decade. The first phase, which will include a footpath and garden, is expected to be put out to tender.

Among the projects to be financed with European funds is the renovation of Calle Ollerías to give it a more pedestrian character, specifically next to Plaza Pepe Mena.

The renovation of Alameda Principal left some work pending to extend its new pedestrian zones into the surrounding streets. This work will now focus on Calle Panaderos and Calle Puerta del Mar.

A long-awaited action by the residents of Parque Mediterráneo is the remodelling of Plaza Victoria Mérida y Piret.

With the help European funds, the city council will carry out new improvements of the streets of the Cruz del Humilladero district.

Another pending project that is expected to be activated is the improvement of the Andrés Jiménez Díaz park, where the Verdiales festival is celebrated every December, so that it can be used by the residents all year round.

The city council also plans the renovation of the pavement on Calle Vendeja, as part of the effort to improve the streets around Alameda Principal.

In coordination with the town hall of Rincón de la Victoria and with the help of the provincial authority, the urban planning department will build two sections of the Senda Litoral to connect the area of Peñón del Cuervo with La Cala.

The European Edil funds programme also includes a package of works to improve the condition of several streets in the districts of Las Flores and Ciudad Jardín, along with El Molinillo.

Another work that the city council plans to put out to tender this year is the pending project to extend the pedestrianisation of part of Calle Trinidad Grund to the west.

The municipal housing institute (IMV) plans to invite tenders for the construction of a building with 16 subsidised housing units for the elderly and people with reduced mobility on a site on Calle Gómez Ocaña.

Also for the elderly, the IMV is going to provide subsidised rentals on the ground floor of the disused Soliva blocks: a total of 91 flats.

The residential project that Vía Célere developed on the Flex plot, on Carretera de Cádiz, left a building in the hands of the city council that the IMV will adapt for a library.

With the help of European Edil funds, the IMV has already put out to tender the works to enable a permanent training center for adults in a former school on Alameda de Capuchinos.

The city council has expropriated a building in Plaza de Mendizábal, in the Victoria area, to provide twenty accommodation units for the over 65s.

The department of culture and the urban planning department are planning to invite tenders for repairs and improvements to the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro castle monuments that have been pending for years.

The IMV plans to put out to tender new works to continue with the reform of the El Ejido headquarters of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Malaga.

The building on Avenida de Andalucía 90, which years ago housed the traffic department, will be adapted by the IMV to enable protected accommodations.

How will all these investments be financed? That's the big question, but the answer may lie in the mayor's attitude during this year's budget presentation. He announced that the city will resort to loans to cover its share of the auditorium project, a strategy he could repeat for other multi-million-euro investments.

The city council has boasted in recent years of a healthy economy that would allow it to increase its debt to finance all these projects, some of which are supported by European funds and other government bodies, such as the regional government and the provincial authority.

Furthermore, some of these projects already have funding allocated in previous years' budgets - money that is available but not yet spent. According to the urban planning department's financial report for 2024, the accumulated unspent funds could amount to approximately one hundred million euros.

However, everything will also depend on the work of the staff of the contracting department of this and other municipal bodies. In 2024, the urban planning department contracted 92 projects worth 20.7 million euros, an amount 17 times less than the sum of these 30 multi-million euro investments De la Torre has proposed in the year before new elections, although he has not yet clarified whether he will run again.