Tourism tragedies
Its a rich mans World
18/January/2007 13:06 .Permalink
Well yesterday it became public. As I reported early on in this blog, Almunecar has been experiencing a building fever that had left the town a souless construction site and a marketing nightmare. Cosy little Almunecar passed its urban growth plans yesterday ignoring all limitations laid down by the Junta de Andalucia. The first of these being that no town can increase the size of its population by more than 30% for the next 8 years.
Did Almunecar take note? Does the Pope wear a silly hat?
Almunecar has a population of about 26.000 at present, with plans to increase its housing stock with 35.000 new dwellings. This figure potentially increases the population by another 90.000 inhabitants. Now, lets see......... by my calculations thats a tad over the 30% guideline.
Secondly, the plan consists of the construction of four golf courses and two mariners. Almunecar´s Mayor - Juan Carlos Benevides - had been trying to push though such measures for some years, and it seems at last he has persuaded the rest of the council to follow him along his personal yellow brick road.
There remains though, a few unanswered questions in my mind:
1. Spain is entering its 3rd year of drought, particularly so in the coastal south. Where will the extra water come from for 90.000 new inhabitants and 4 golf courses (each of which consumes the same as a town of 20.000 people) ?
2. The land for construction and leisure will come from the fertile tropical vega that surrounds the town. This unique micro-climate has provided employment and a food source for the town throughout its history - that was until the arrival of the immobilaria. A disappearing fertile vega covered by cheap housing and concrete does not appear to me to be confronting a volatile future of energy deficiency unsustainable tourism and depleted water supplies. Or perhaps Im misreading the entire global economy. Me,Al Gore and just about every scientist in the world that is.
3. Finally, what will such a plan do to the already feverish and saturated housing market on the coast? Andres Palacios, ex-PP member and a man I unfortunately had to meet on several occasions, has pointed out the reason why the plan was passed by all parties: More than 80% of the town has an economic interest in this plan. We all have land to sell.....
And so the sage continues.....were we right to get out when we could or should we have stayed, invested in property and made a killing like everyone else? Tricky one........
Can´t get a decent manchada there anyway.
Play: Money, money money...........Abba
or New Order. Power, Corruption and Lies
Read how it once was: Jan Morris - Spain
or Norman Lewis, Voices of the Old Sea
or the classic Fabled Shore by R. Macaulay.
everything is changing
18/April/2006 12:52 .Permalink
Eight years on the coast and things are changing so fast that I no longer recognise the town we found back then. The chirimoya orchard that became a McDonalds, the green vega that is now littered with 4 star hotels and soon 4 golf courses, a mariner and umpteen urbanizations. The new bull-ring will get under way later this year as well as the multi-cine and shopping complex. Hmmmm. Can´t wait. Perhaps this pace of change will be good for the place, but for us its a faceless, blind, short-term formula lining the pockets of the road and construction companies. Hence the motorway now approaching from the north and the west. Progress comes at a price. The capacity to see Awe and Beauty is slipping from us both.
But where to turn next our weary feet? Dare we consider up-rooting yet again? Consulting the I ching was reassuring but too vague: You are laying the groundwork - don´t despair. But I had began to see life as a repetition again, instead of a moment pregnant with possibility. I recognised I was no longer in awe. One day a trip to Granada airport awakened an interest in the Santa Fe area. It´s greener than the coast, within a short drive to the metropolis and people and places seem less like bits of cardboard. Coffee is priced sensibly and is served hot, and vests are not seen on the streets in november. People speak to us in the language of the country we are in. A move looms on the horizon.
We have decided to organise a trip around the outskirts of the city.