Staff Reporter
IT has become the symbol of the savage destruction of Spain’s coastline, a prime example of the wanton disregard some developers have towards the Mediterranean littoral. The Algarrobico hotel – built on 16 hectares of protected park land – is a mass of cement encroaching upon western Europe’s largest maritime-terrain nature reserve.
Both regional and central government have moved to rid the coast of Almeria of this eyesore, with both administrations promising to expropriate the land upon which the hotel stands and rid the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park of the 411-bed complex.
But for the paintbrushes of a few environmentalists who managed to daub the words “illegal hotel” upon its facade, the building remains untouched.
Greenpeace even alleges work is continuing on the hotel, a claim denied by Azata del Sol, the development company behind the multi-million-euro project.
What is more, the developers maintain that the expropriation and demolition orders are “illegal,” claiming that the company has the correct, legal documentation – given by the town hall in nearby Carboneras – allowing them to build on that plot of land.
This argument is under no doubt. Until proven otherwise, it must be assumed the company has always acted in good faith. However, that the hotel has mobilised protests not only from local residents but environmentalists, the judiciary and both regional and national governments means something is possibly not quite right.
The first known demonstrations came shortly after work on the hotel started in May 2003 when a group of local residents – calling themselves the Friends of the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park – started an internet campaign raising awareness of the destruction being causing by the construction of the hotel.
Green groups such as Ecologistas en Accion and Greenpeace soon took up the cause, producing documentation proving the multi-million-euro complex was being built on protected land, that the natural resources could in no way support such a project and that it contravenes national coast laws in being too close to the beach (barely metres from the shore).
But still work continued unhindered.
On February 20, 2006, Greenpeace staged a symbolic demolition of the hotel, scaling the security fences and knocking down part of an exterior wall. Then three days later, an Almería court issued a stop order on construction of the hotel, stating its licence “illegal.”
Three months later, in May 2006, Junta de Andalucía president Manuel Chaves said the hotel would be forcibly bought and subsequently demolished by the regional government. The proposed method? This 20-storey leviathan of concrete would be brought down by dynamite.
The crux of the regional government’s argument is found way back in 1999, when the project was little further on than at its planning stages. According to Junta lawyers – who had checked the project’s documentation in the most minute detail, the original seller of the land had not crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s.
The seller was under the obligation of communicating to the Junta his – or her – intention to sell; the regional government could then exercise its right of first refusal.
This was apparently not done and Azata del Sol were over the proverbial barrel.
What next for the development company, who wanted to protect their own interests? Faced with a no-win situation, they slapped a prohibitive price tag on the semi-complete hotel to complicate its forced sale.
To fulfil the promise of expropriation and demolition, the regional government would have to shell out a cool 300 million euros to purchase El Algarrobico.
The Junta believes the finca carries a less eye-watering price – 2.3 million euros, the price of the 16-hectare plot of land contained on its deeds.
The developers, meanwhile, have maintained the price stands and that they are in “no negotiations with any administration.”
What has happened since the demolition order? Nothing. Well, not according to Greenpeace. The group alleges work on the complex is ongoing. And to draw public attention to the allegation, 30 activists disembarked from the vessel Rainbow Warrior, which was moored out to sea, and painted the words “Illegal Hotel in letters three-storeys high.
“Work is continuing on this European symbol of coastal speculation,” Juan López Uralde, director of Greenpeace-España, said.
As reported in issue 29 of the Olive Press, Azata del Sol vehemently deny this accusation. A company spokesman even furthered that while work is paralysed, the hotel is slowly being eroded by the elements.
“Work was stopped the moment we were notified of the stop order. As a consequence essential damp-proofing could not be done, resulting in damage to the floors, ceilings and other important fittings,” Antonio Baena claimed.
However, judicial sources have confirmed the company has sought permission to put a halt to this deterioration. This request, however, was turned down. Under Spanish law, a stop order can only be reversed if the construction is in serious danger of falling down.
So, what is to become of the soap opera that is El Algarrobico? Early last month, Fuensanta Coves, the environment chief at the Junta de Andalucía, promised a legal announcement concerning the hotel would be made “in the next few days.” July soon became August – the month when Spain traditionally shuts down and little business is done. This announcement is now expected in September. It is only then can we all expect some closure and allow the authorities to return the beach at Algarrobico to its once pristine state.
What a shame, wreck it!!!
Well, it is November 30, 2016 and the eyesore still exists; saw it yesterday. Seems the goverment must be waiting for who knows what for this place to deteriorate and fall into the sea.
It would cost to demolish (and pay the owners) about the same as building a new hospital for Almería. Why not forget about the frikking ecologists, turn the Algarrobico into a residence for the elderly and stop the hype?
Nothing to do with “ecologists”. The thing is illegal. If Trump can “make the Mexicans pay” Spain can make the developers and planners pay to pull it down.
It’s illegal thanks to post-dated laws implemented by ecologist-inspired lobbying groups. It is also impossible to return that 300 metre stretch to barren nothingness (which is why no one is trying).
Spot on Lenox.
Save the total waste of money turn it in a University and Campus. Make it into a educational leader in Eco courses.
And who will pay for these pipe-dreams?
Using the building (and making it legal again) would give the green light to more illegal developments all over Spain, so not a good idea in this case. Spain is a dysfunctional country, it cannot even carry out the basic principles of law.
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot – Joni was right then and even more now. As one who saw how it was before the greed and stupidity that Spain has always been known for destroyed so much of it’s coastlines and I include a lot of NW Spain in that as well – it is so sad.
In fact, there are thousands of jobs and untold millions of euros to be made – just in Almería – if the ecologists lost their baleful power in the regional governments. Consider: Almería City has a stretch of about eight kilometres between its border and the beginning of Costacabana. The University is somewhere there, facing the beach. Otherwise, there is nothing except the ubiquitous plastic farms, most of them in disuse… rotted. What a place to build expensive homes and smart restaurants. The ecologists say ‘no’. Elsewhere in the province, where many of the 102 pueblos are dying through the migration of the young to the cities (there’s not much to do in a pueblo without jobs or a future). Allow homes to be built and money, jobs and northern retirees will become a feature of the hugely underpopulated reason. But, the ecologists say ‘no’.
Lenox would encourage corrupt politicians and contractors, and shady ‘northern’ estate agents, to “build expensive homes and smart restaurants” on the last unspoiled 8 kms of coast so that “northern retirees will become a feature of the hugely underpopulated” region. Ecologists and other educated people say ‘no’ to that kind of short-sighted greed. Unlike coastal ghettos, rotted plastic farms can be removed, cleaned up, and the beaches restored.
Many people – local and foreign alike – prefer unspoiled landscapes to the built up decadence and crime which comes along with the ‘northern’ leisure ‘lifestyles’ prevalent in other affluent coastal ghettos. Viewing Spain’s heritage as nothing more than financial opportunity and places to sit, eat and drink at the expense of indigenous culture is an insult to Spanish people.
Much better the 25% unemployment (rising to 70% in the inland pueblos), eh?
Yes much better: Spain should develop alternative energy and sustainable housing industry like Scandinavia and Germany. Much better source of jobs for workers than low paying service jobs.
The Spanish are not totally innocent when it comes to over-building, they have been complicit in it, especially on the Costas, and inland, where mayors have signed off non-urbanisable land to both foreigners, and the Spanish alike, leaving them to pick up the pieces later.
I don’t remember the Ecologists screaming from the rooftops while this hotel was being built. As usual, they used the tripwire technique whereby they sat back and did nothing until it was nearly finished and then started squealing. As Lenox points out, they conveniently overlook the hideous, unused plastic tunnels and shacks all over the place – the bulldozer passed many of these eyesores on the way to demolishing the Priors’ house. The Ecologists are aided and abetted by the hapless Junta de Andalucia who have failed their people miserably and failed to create and uphold proper planning laws in the region for years on end but if the recent national elections are anything to go by, their days are numbered and the chances of them winning a majority at the next regional elections are remote – I hope.
Love it or hate it, this building has been constructed so it is a waste to demolish it now. Why not do something useful with it? The onus is on the wretched Junta to create reasonable, workable planning laws, police their region properly and make sure that this type of thing never happens again.
What innovative ideas do the Ecologists have to reduce unemployment in the region?
Spain should develop innovative alternative energy and sustainable housing industry like Scandinavia and Germany. Much better source of jobs for workers than low paying service jobs.
Part of the problem was the confusion spread by a series of maps published by the regional government back in 2003 I recall, which marked areas of protected parkland as development zones. The town halls, like Carboneras, interpreted this as meaning they could hand out building licences, and devlopment happened very quickly with over 200 workers. Greenpeace have been protesting about the hotel as early as 2007, if not before. Don’t forget also, that building continued even while the judge ordered construction to halt, and since Spain doesn’t properly enforce its laws, the construction continued. This hotel was built out of corruption, and the totally useless Junta are complicit in it.
If this hotel stands, other buildings will surely follow, using the same arguments, so it is absolutely necessary to demolish this monstrosity – and restore the land. The Algarrobico hotel must not set a precedent for the wrong reasons; it should set a precedent for Spain protecting its coastal areas. Look at the rest of the coast – that’s what must be avoided.
Been there two weeks ago. It would not be half as spectacular had it ever been completed. Now it is a kind of catch-22 situation. The best “solution” now may leaving it as it is, as a deterring example.