Househunters 03.06
House Hunters in the Sun Magazine
March 2006
Tom McGrath and his associate Ignacfo Perezde Vargas look at the bubbling debate surrounding the master plan for the future development of the Costa del Sol.
McGrath and Associates is an Irish solicitor who represents many Irish investors and buyers in Spain. He is a fiuent Spanish speaker with throughout Spain. The firm also provides overseas legal services for Portugal, France, Turkey, Cape Verde and Madeira.
Ignacio Perez de Vargas represents Perez de Vargas Lawyers in Marbella. He is an
associate of the Irish solicitor Tom McGrath.
saw such demand they had to order an immediate reprint of all their promotional material.
In recent months there has been an ongoing media debate regarding the Costa del Sol's master plan, known as the POT (Plan de Ordenacion Territorial). Concerns have been expressed about the protected land of the mountain ridge that runs from Fuengirola to Manilva, and projected infrastructure, including the much-anticipated costa railway from Malaga to Estepona.
The POT'S aim is to protect the environmental features of the landscape as well as to plan
infrastructure to provide for projected growth on the Costa del Sol.
The POT came into existence for a number of reasons: the economic and territorial boom of the western Costa del Sol over the last five decades; the concentration of tourist-urban developments along the coast; the extension of urban development inland; the environmental and territorial imbalances created as a result of developing the landscape; and the projected population increase over the next years, with many Europeans expected to buy second properties in the area.
The Council for Public Works and Transport treats the western Costa del Sol as a whole, with the main aim of improving the tourist value of the area while diversifying into a centre for business, services and leisure.
The POT will cover the municipalities of Casares Benahavfs, Estepona, Fuengirola, Mijas, Manilva, Istan, Marbeila and Ojen, and envisages the nine districts becoming a new' Sunlight City' with 1,771,000 inhabitants.
Proposals set out in the POT include a new road between the toll highway and the N340 main road as well as transversal roads connecting all three; an underground railway from Manilva to Nerja; technical infrastructures such as small reservoirs interconnected with a 'hydric highway'; and the completion of the general drainage network to reach the goal of 'no dumping'. Plans for the water, electricity and drainage infrastructures are not yet prepared.
One of the POTs main goals is to devise a system of spare land that is protected against excessive urban development. These areas include: the Maritime Avenue, from the shoreline inland; the large forest parks on the Sierra; and the parks deemed fit for agricultural development.
The forecasted population growth in the municipalities of the costa area justifies the need for a POT charged with improving infrastructures and services, which, in turn, maintains the standard of tourism in the area. Reservations held about the POT include the haste in which it was formulated and approved by the costa's town halls, and the scant contribution of the town halls' social sectors to the planning process.
A number of amendments will have to be made to the POT after a period of public scrutiny is concluded. The political will of the Junta de Andalucia's Council of Public Works to approve the POT is self-evident in the light of all the hype and media. We must conclude that the Government Council of the Junta de Andalucia in Seville shall approve the POT before the end of 2006.
We trust that the necessary public funds shall be released and allocated for each of the proposed infrastructures and buildings, enabling the western Costa del Sol to sustain a healthy and balanced population growth in years to come.