Firstly, the following article was posted on the ex-Mayor’s facebook account: “juancarlos.benavidesyanguas”.

“I don’t understand it. When almost four years ago I warned of the dangers that the project Hotel Bahía Fenicia faced; many just didn’t believe that there would be people who would be so foolish as to put into jeopardy this multi-million investment that would generate hundreds of jobs.”

After the elections, they [the hotel owners] came to see the ex-Mayor – they had to send a report to their central office; after all, money is easily scared! They were surprised to learn that a new municipal council would be taking office, thanks to a 4-way alliance and that the Mayor would be in the opposition.

When they asked him about what he considered would be the posture of the new administration, he could only voice his concern. The outgoing administration had worked hard to convince the Danish investors to build the 7-star hotel in our municipality

The article is longer but the gist is obvious… at least to the new Mayor, Trinidad Herrera, who lost no time in organising a meeting with the Danes to believe Sr. Benavides’ comments.

The Spokesman for the developer behind Bahía Fenicia says that they have everything prepared and are waiting only for the final green light from the Junta de Andalucia, which, he says, should be through in the next few weeks.

“As soon as we have the green light from the Junta, we can start construction work within four weeks, because all the technical details have been solved,” said the Head of the Marketing for the hotel, Javier Maza.

The Mayor, Sra. Herrera, gave assurances that this project has total priority and that the Town Hall and the company are in constant contact. She says that it has been hard work sorting out the muddles in the paperwork and getting it all ready, referring to the original building licence that lacked the necessary permissions from the Junta.

Interestingly, Sr. Javier Maza wanted to make it clear that he has no contact with Sr. Juan Carlos Benavides and that his company enjoys a fluid and positive relationship with the new Town Council, as well as the Junta de Andalucia, both of which support the project.

(News: Almuñécar, Costa Tropical, Andalucia)