Torrox Council remains committed to selling three plots of municipally-owned land in Calaceite in order to try and balance their budget, despite the crisis in the building sector and the fact that two previous attempts to sell the land have not resulted in a single offer.
The three plots, valued at €12 million, have a buildable area of 17,000 and were originally offered for sale in 2006 for the sum of €10 million. In 2008, the previous administration reduced the sale price by 38% in an attempt to generate interest but still no offers were received.
Now, provided that a favourable report on valuation is received from the technical department, the Council wants to reduce the price even further to less than half the figure originally anticipated.
The Council is faced with a need to earn revenue and balance the budget at a time when the building industry in the municipality is at a complete standstill.
The Council has budgeted for revenues of €32 million for 2010 and expenses of €29 million including, for the first time, projects proposed by local residents and decided through the Participatory Budget. Up to 25% of funds have been reserved for such projects in some areas.