Chloe Glover (Reporter)
A HUGE contamination study is to begin on a piece of prime re-development land.
Asset management company SAREB has instructed specialist company Inerco to evaluate the soil of the former Repsol plant on Malaga city outskirts, due to fresh fears of lingering hydrocarbons.
The cost of the study is €100,000 but the total could spiral if a cleanup of the 177.548 square metre plot between Avenidas Europa and Juan XXIII is needed.
A detox of the land, which was used to store petrol in the 1970s, took place in 2002 but new legislation demands more tests.
SAREB, which has rights to part of the land, came to an agreement to share the costs with the city council and hopes the results will be revealed by spring.
Decontamination of a refinery site to make it safe for people, especially children crawling on the ground, is very, very expensive and requires removal and decontamination of thousands of tons of soil. I would doubt that Spain has the technical expertise and money to do this correctly.
This kind of project would open many doors for collusion and stealing funds as it would need to be funded by Brussels.