San Pedro Alcántara Ferris wheel plan doesn't even get off the ground

Plans for a huge Ferris wheel tourist attraction some 50 metres high and with 30 cabins offering panoramic views of San Pedro Alcántara have fallen flat.

After Marbella town council officials considered the addition of the attraction on the town's boulevard would be a good draw for tourists the council put the project for the construction and installation of the wheel out to public tender.

Now the deadlines for receiving offers has been met and the project has been abandoned. Javier García, Marbella's deputy mayor for San Pedro Alcántara pointed out that "it was not a municipal project".

"There was a company, with Russian capital, that was the one that proposed the idea, had the feasibility study and organised all the documentation. And there was a second company from Barcelona that was also interested," he said.

"The companies, especially the one with Russian money, have informed us that the numbers no longer work for them because the cost of the Ferris wheel has doubled," explained García.

However, the deputy mayor has said that "the specifications have been drawn up so that if any time a company was interested, the plan could be revived because we still consider it to be interesting as a tourist attraction."