Malaga is third Spanish province with highest investment in public work in 2025

Malaga was the third Spanish province with the highest investment in public works in 2025, mostly thanks to the project for the city's third hospital.

Total public investment last year was 1.35 billion euros (exluding IVA tax), almost double the figure from 2024, when the province was 13th in the ranking. With last year's figure, Malaga was only behind Madrid and Barcelona.

Even without the third hospital project, however, the review of public investment in Malaga in 2025 would still have been a record. Other healthcare initiatives, road, metro and administrative building projects marked the year.

The ACP association of builders and developers of Malaga released these figures in its report on public work in Andalucía. The report shows that Malaga's infrastructure is finally starting to match the increase in population and its demands. It is the sixth most populated province in Spain.

If third at national level, Malaga is first in Andalucía in terms of investment. Last year, it surpassed Seville (second place with 781.9 million euros) with double the investment.

In terms of population, the province of Malaga reached 755 euros per inhabitant in 2025: the second highest amount in Andalucía, after Cordoba.

The question is whether this boost will maintain momentum this year. Secretary General of ACP Violeta Aragón celebrates last year's success but warns that the province must either maintain or increase these numbers, "especially in transport, water and housing".

According to Aragón, for a long time, Malaga has been suffering "serious problems arising from the insufficient capacity of its current infrastructure". "The province has grown but infrastructure has not and now we are seeing the consequences in transport, water management and affordable housing - areas in which significant social and economic tensions are noticeable," she said.

The ACP report details how much each governing level has contributed to Malaga's progress. In 2025, the main actor was the regional government, with an investment of more than 705.3 million euros, 239.4 per cent more than in 2024. There is no other Andalusian province in which the regional government has made such an effort.

After the regional government, the most invested in Malaga are local councils and the provincial authority, with 475.8 million euros, 36 per cent more than in 2024. In last place is the central government, with 170.5 million euros - the only institution to decrease its investment effort (by 4.1 per cent).

The main sector in Malaga that has benefitted from the 2025 investment is healthcare (668 million euros). As previously mentioned, the third hospital, recently named Virgen de la Esperanza, is the project that stands out.

To the 543 million euros for the third hospital, the report adds the 73.37-million-euro improvement and expansion tasks in Hospital Regional Universitario, Hospital El Clínico, Hospital Costa del Sol and Área de Gestión Sanitaria de Ronda. The 12.6 million euros for the Rincón de la Victoria health centre also stand out.

The second most important sector was road infrastructure, with more than 221 million euros. One of the most important contracts was the extension of the A-357, the Guadalhorce motorway, in the area around Casapalma, Cerralba, Ronda and Campillos, with 47 million euros.

The metro also played a major role, with the awarding of the work for the section between Calle Hilera and Calle Eugenio Gross, as well as the tender for the third section towards Hospital Civil. The two projects together total more than 80 million euros.

Projects concerning administrative buildings involve the new headquarters of the regional government on Calle Ortega y Gasset, which will house the agriculture delegation, part of the department of public work, the territorial directorate of sustainable development and the cultural department. Around 470 public employees will work there once it's built.

Among the state investments is the 15.5-million-euro investment in Malaga Airport.

At the same time, local councils promoted the urban renaturalisation project in Huelin in Malaga (seven million euros), the athletics stadium in Marbella (eleven million euros), the fire station in Mijas (seven million) and the sports complex in Las Lagunas, also Mijas (ten million).

In Andalucía as a whole, investment in public works reached 5.5 billion euros in 2025, an increase of 43.2 per cent over the previous year. All public administrations increased their investment capacity, although the central government made the greatest effort, in both absolute (almost 2.16 billion euros) and relative terms (+71.5 per cent).