The Costa Granadina (as it was known) was spared the brick deluge that swamped the Province of Málaga in the 60s and 70s, eating its way along the coast, but even today, brick-fo-brick’s sake continues over the border in the Axarquía.
Residents of Almayate, El Hornillo and the surrounding area around the mouth of Río Vélez have made it known to their local Town Council that they are completely against the plan to build 1,121 dwellings on hitherto untouched agricultural land; i.e., the vega that remains unspoilt along the beach.
These rebellious residents have made known their objections to the Plan General de Ordenación Municipal (PGOM 26) during the public viewing, grace period.
It’s the part of the PGOU entitled, Área de Oportunidad del Delta del Río Vélez, in the sights of the building developer, Salsa Inmobiliaria that has their blood boiling. The developer’s webpage details the 1,121 dewellings and enough hotels to provide 2,152 hotel rooms along a seafront of 2.5 kilometres between Almayate and the river mouth.
What the locals want is “development zero” in order to protect the EL Hornillo farming land, the Río Vélez delta and the vega. But it is no just “no” because they don’t like it as they have given reasons why there shouldn’t be any development in these area, including the risk of flooding, which is a problem where ever there is a river, or a vega near the sea.
They also point out that there just aren’t the water resources for more dwellings, as well as the general degredation of the biodiversity of the delta.
The ecologists, GENA-Ecologistas en Acción had already raised the alrm concerning the modification of the POTAX. Chairman, Rafael Yus gave repeated warnings of possible flooding, which was born out in November 2024 when heavy rains caused Río Vélez to burst its banks near the river mouth.
Salsa Inmobiliaria doesn’t see it this way and considers that the Área de Oportunidad del Delta is a future tourist development and high-end residential property thanks to the proximity of the sea; its beaches. They also say that there will be green areas – but that is precisely what there is now before you build all over it.
(News: Almayate, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia: Photo/Source: E. Cabezas)
Keywords: Coastal Urban Development, Local Opposition, Ecologists, Vega, Delta Río Vélez, Salsa Inmobiliaria
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