Málaga buys two plots for Gibralfaro path. Wider plan still stalled

Málaga city council is acquiring two small plots of land on calle Picacho for a path on the slopes of Monte Gibralfaro, according to Diario Sur. The purchases are meant to move forward a plan to open the hill to residents, which the newspaper says was approved more than ten years ago and has yet to see any work begin.

Key facts

• Two plots: numbers 10 and 12 on calle Picacho, at the back of calle Victoria, totalling 218.28 square metres (75.40 and 142.88 sq m).
• Price: the Gerencia Municipal de Urbanismo (the municipal planning body) will pay €208,103, according to Diario Sur.
• Approval: the purchases were due to be approved and completed at the Gerencia's board meeting on Thursday, the newspaper said.
• Project value: the 'Bypass Gibralfaro' scheme is valued at more than €3 million.
• Deadline: the project must be carried out by 2029 to qualify for European funding.

What the plots are for

The land is needed for the 'Bypass Gibralfaro' project, which would create a path and rest areas behind calle Victoria. It would link Pinosol with calle Agua and calle Picacho.

The scheme has been included in the European Edil programme, so it can receive new EU aid, provided the council can complete it by 2029, Diario Sur reported.

The expropriation is being handled by mutual agreement with the owners. The price includes the municipal valuation, a 5% "premio de afección" (a statutory premium added in expropriations) and a further 10% bonus for reaching an agreement.

A plan years in the making

Diario Sur describes the wider Gibralfaro plan as having sat in a drawer for a decade. The newspaper says the council has taken several steps in recent years towards some of its phases, but no works have started, and European funds that could have paid for environmental regeneration of the hill were lost along the way. The planning body has also carried unspent budget for the operation since 2017, it reported.

The council's governing team is again counting on a new round of Brussels funding for the plan, the paper said. According to its summary, the remaining phases are:

• a €2.4 million project linking Mundo Nuevo and Pinosol, with walkways, crossings over gullies, work to integrate archaeological activity, a children's area and a "rawda" garden, a recreation of an Arab funerary garden;
• a €1.3 million intervention on the southern slope to stabilise the ground against landslides caused by wear or rain, and to build a footpath between the Coracha promenade and the Gibralfaro road, with an eight-month execution period once contracted;
• a fourth phase of about €2.1 million for drainage, irrigation, electricity and drinking fountains.

Diario Sur puts the total for the whole plan at roughly €8 million.

Earlier delays

In January, the councillor for urban planning, Carmen Casero, did not say when the long-planned works would start, Diario Sur reported. She pointed to pending permits from the Junta de Andalucía's culture department for archaeological surveys. According to the paper, those permits had been received a month later, in February.

What it means for residents

The calle Picacho purchases are a concrete step, but the 2029 funding deadline and the lack of any started works mean the hill's opening-up will depend on how quickly the council moves. Readers can follow decisions of the Gerencia Municipal de Urbanismo through the city council.