Alex Trelinski
A NEW cultural centre for Pilar de la Horadada is expected to open before Easter as the ‘replacement’ for the never-used infamous La Paloma development- demolished in 2023.
Two sections of the town’s Museum, Music, and Performing Arts Centres (CAMME) have been built on a plot covering 11,000 m2.
A €537,000 contract for furniture and equipment has now been advertised by Pilar council.
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The complex is situated between Avenidas Reina Sofia and Lo Alegre close to the N-332 with the two buildings costing €6.6 million.
One of them will house the Semana Santa(Holy Week) Museum with exhibits celebrating local Easter traditions.
Another will be the Casa de Cultura and will be home to Pilar’s council’s culture and education departments.
It will also have five lecture rooms and will host exhibitions.
The third element- an auditorium with seating for 600 people and a music conservatory- has been delayed by the council to focus on completing the first two buildings and other ‘municipal initiatives’.
It will also require a change to the urban plan in regard to land use on the site.
The CAMME replaces an infamous and unused ‘white elephant’ building in Pilar that was demolished two years ago.
The Mariana Baches Cultural Centre- nicknamed La Paloma, was once branded ‘the shame of the town’.
It made national notoriety as a prime example of overspending by councils during the boom period of around two decades ago.
The original construction budget was €2 million but spiralled to just under €9 million in 2006, when work stopped for good.
The project was officially scrapped in 2014 and municipal technicians said La Paloma could not be revitalised and described the structure as ‘obsolete’.
Pilar council also paid €2.7 million in compensation in 2020 to two companies for lost revenues from an underground car park that never opened on the site.
It’s still not clear what the area will be used for.
