After an investment of €33 million, the The Axarquia Park for Agricultural Technology in Vélez.Málaga, looks like being another addition to the list of ‘white elephant’ projects dreamt up during the economic boom years, the projects having no clear purpose other than seemingly to squander public funds.
There are costly airports which have either not been completed or, in some cases, completed but never used, so the park is nowhere near the top of the squandered money list.
Vélez-Málaga Council has officially accepted receipt of the park, two years after the necessary infrastructure was completed at a cost of €14 million.
The original idea was a site based upon the cultivation and exportation of subtropical fruits, particularly mangoes and avocados. The site covers 186,000 square metres in El Trapiche and has 39 warehouses.
However, after all this time there are still no takers for any of the 39 warehouses, with only two companies actually expressing a vague interest.
At the same time as officially taking over the park, the Mayor of Vélez-Málaga, Francisco Delgado Bonilla, requested the Junta de Andalucia to honour its commitment to set up a Centre for Entrepreneurial Development in the park.
The idea behind this project is to create 13 low-rent warehouses to encourage new businesses to start up.
At the official handover, the provincial delegate for Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment welcomed the reception of these works by the Council and expressed strong support for the project ‘which should become the benchmark for agribusiness, not only in the province but also in Andalucia’.