ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 13th July 2018
186 days and counting down: more progress towards the opening of Corvera airport as Murcia sizzles in the July sun
The week ended with a glut of news regarding the latest progress towards the opening of the Region of Murcia International Airport in Corvera, scheduled for 19th January next year, and all the signs are that things are on course for that target to be met.
Competitive passenger tariffs have been agreed on in an effort to attract airlines to the facility – 39 per cent lower than in Alicante – and various sundry contracts have either been put out to tender or are ready to reach that stage, including the refuelling services for the next ten years.
At the same time, management company Aena is ready to appoint a new national boss, who among other duties will be overseeing the transfer of flights from San Javier to Corvera, while the continuing increases in traffic at San Javier augur well for a successful start once operations switch to the new airport.
There is still considerable scepticism regarding the airport in Corvera in some quarters, but it really does seem that this time the opening date forecasts are realistic, and that in six months and two days from the publication of this bulletin the first flights could be taking off and landing there!
Airports and tourism news
San Javier airport had its busiest June for 7 years last month: passenger numbers at San Javier showed a year-on-year increase for the 21st consecutive month, reaching over 154,000, with 88 per cent of all travellers being on flights to and from the UK and Ireland.
Aggressive passenger tariffs at Corvera: 39 per cent lower than Alicante to attract airlines, with a possible knock-on benefit for passengers. At the same time, the terms of the refuelling contract at Corvera have been finalized, the contract to carry out repairs on uninterruptible power supply systems is already open to bidders, and Aena have approved the name suggested for the airport by the regional government.
This means that in theory, after 15 years or so of referring to “Corvera airport”, everyone will have to get used to talking about the “Aeropuerto Juan de la Cierva”, although in reality the likelihood is that for most people (including some non-Spaniards who may find the pronunciation of “Juan de la Cierva” a bit of a mouthful), the facility will probably still be referred to as Corvera airport!
Airport management company Aena name new boss: Maurici Lucena will be in charge at Aena to oversee the opening of the new airport in Corvera due to the political change in the Spanish government.
Repairs completed on path up to Jumilla castle: visitors can now enjoy a climb up to the 15th century castle and enjoy panoramic views out over Jumilla and the surrounding countryside.
Visits for the blind at the Roman Theatre Museum in Cartagena: technology truly can be a wonderful thing… blind visitors can follow a marked route from the Plaza del Ayuntamiento all the way through the museum and into the theatre itself.
Heat, wild fires and Saharan dust pollution
As the summer heat intensifies the weather has been a constant topic of conversation in the Costa Cálida this week, with the Region of Murcia consistently at or near the top of the daily list of the hottest places in Spain.
Last weekend rapid intervention was required to prevent the spread of fire in Jumilla, but 8 hectares were burnt in the Sierra del Buey before a team of 50 firefighters brought the blaze under control.
On Tuesday the warmest places were Archena and Molina de Segura with approximately 38 degrees, while at one weather station in Cartagena the maximum was just 26: definitely a day to be on the coast as green flags flew at all of the beaches of the Costa Cálida to indicate safe bathing conditions!
Caravaca topped the Spanish temperature charts on Wednesday with 37.6 degrees as the risk of wild fires was maintained at extreme following minor incidents in Puerto Lumbreras and Alhama, and Thursday’s winner was Archena with 37.1 degrees. But after a muggy night, residents in the city of Murcia awoke to find that a spattering of rain and the presence of Saharan dust particles in the air had left their cars filthy. In fact, a level 1 dust pollution alert protocol was activated in the city as drivers are urged to avoid the centre, and other measures included the temporary suspension of agricultural burning while the current episode of contamination lasts.
meanwhile.....
Oops! Mercedes goes for a swim in the Mar Menor: the verdict of engineers is still awaited regarding whether it’s possible to build a tunnel connecting the northern end of La Manga del Mar Menor with the mainland in San Pedro del Pinatar, but one driver appeared to be taking matters into his own hands last Saturday and provided great entertainment for beachgoers as his top-range Mercedes disappeared below the water, complete with Jet-ski...........
........and of course, holidaymakers provided plenty of opportunities for this season's lifeguards to get into their rhythm for summer....
Tragic death as 80 year old drowns in Los Nietos: the incident occurred on Monday at the Playa del Arenal. It can´t be stressed enough HOW IMPORTANT it is to ensure elderly bathers do not bathe alone and allow the body to gradually acclimatise to the temperature of the water after leaving a hot beach or sitting in the sun.
San Javier lifeguards in action again at Playa Barnuevo: a female bather was saved from drowning in Santiago de la Ribera. The next day lifeguards held a series of special additional training sessions following this first important rescue.
Concussed 16-year-old rescued after diving into rocky waters in Cartagena: a rescue boat was launched due to the difficulties of reaching him by land.
And their landbased counterparts have been busy as well....Two injured in the first Moratalla bull run of 2018: the annual fiestas in Moratalla last until 17th July, with seven bull runs in all.
Environmental and agricultural news
Worries over future water transfers to Murcia exacerbated by ministerial statements: the Minister for Ecological Transition warns that transfers should not be taken for granted, stating that such extraordinary measures ought to be contemplated only when drinking water supplies are threatened.
Teresa Ribera also repeated the opinion that a better source of water would be increased production at desalination plants, but unfortunately efforts to bring production up to 100 per cent of capacity at the facility in Torrevieja, the largest of its kind in Europe, are meeting with problems...
Other stories in the Murcia news
Man arrested after stealing Cartagena fire brigade car to drive to Totana: press reports suggest that the motive was an early-morning visit to a bar!
Elton John and Bryan Adams to play in Murcia? The Real Murcia football stadium is seeking new revenue avenues and sees an opportunity as a major concert venue.
Meteorite plunges into Mediterranean off the Murcia coastline: the fragment of rock entered the atmosphere travelling at 65,000 km/h.
New petrol labelling at Spanish pumps this October: EU regulations will affect practically the whole of Europe as the days of “diesel”, “gasolina 95” and “gasolina 98” are numbered.
Drama in Murcia as man threatens to jump from the roof of the Cathedral: incredibly, the protagonist was the same Rumanian who threatened to jump from the Cathedral in November if he wasn’t given 3,000 euros and a sandwich!
Fin whales heading towards Murcia: giant finbacks have been sighted off the Alicante coast and near Cabo de Palos, heading our way as they migrate from the Ligurian Sea off Corsica towards the Strait of Gibraltar.
Murcia and Spanish property news
The main news regarding the real estate sector in Spain this week concerns two reports which were published concerning the performance of the market in May, one from the notaries and the other from the government’s central statistics unit.
First to release their data were the notaries, who observed increases in both property prices and sales figures during the month. A total of almost 52,000 represented an increase of 7.7 cent over the May 2018 figure, while at the same time the average price of 1,372 euros per square metre of residential property was 0.6 per cent higher than the year before.
This is a notoriously hard statistic to analyse, as the lack of a significant increase in the average price of housing in Spain could easily be due to more properties being sold in less expensive areas rather than to an inherent stagnation in the value of residential property.
The following day the government’s statistics unit reported a lower sales figure of just over 47,000 for the same month, this time observing a year-on-year rise of 4.7 per cent, and the regional breakdown shows that for the third consecutive month the Region of Murcia features among the three most significant increases. So far this year the number of residential property sales registered in the Region of Murcia has reached over 6,700, representing a very healthy rise of 26.6 per cent in comparison with the same period last year, and over the last twelve months the total is 14,565: this is the highest level since June 2011, having risen by 23.9 per cent over the last year and by 56 per cent since the market bottomed out in August 2014!
(For anyone wondering, the discrepancy between the two sets of sales figures is due to the fact that the central statistics unit gathers data at the point when sales are registered, which can be weeks or even months after sales are finalized before a notary.)
Spain’s bad bank looks to increase Murcia property sales: almost 2,000 sales have been made by Sareb in the Costa Cálida over the last five years, and a new regional office is being set up in Valencia.
With Spain’s involvement in the World Cup having ended earlier than most people expected it has been a relatively quiet week on the national news front, but the issue of migration, refugees and immigration was again in the headlines.
On Wednesday the Supreme Court found the national government guilty of failing to fulfil the migrant acceptance quota established by the EU in 2015 following the shock and outrage sparked by images of Alan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian refugee who drowned in the Mediterranean and whose body was washed up on the coast of Turkey.
The target set for Spain in efforts to relieve the migrant pressure on Italy and Greece was 19,449 people before September 2017, but under the government of Mariano Rajoy the figure reached by March of this year was just 2,500, or 12.85 per cent of the total stipulated. There has been a noticeable change of attitude towards immigration under the new government of Pedro Sánchez – witness the acceptance of the 630 migrants aboard the Aquarius, and 60 more on the Open Arms vessel – but now Sr Sánchez and his government are now obliged to offer a further 17,000 places to migrants and refugees.
But criticism was not reserved exclusively for the Spanish government. The ruling also notes that requests made to the governments of Greece and Italy have not been adequately replied to, and that there are indications of a lack of coordination within the EU concerning efforts to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean.
Elsewhere there were more anti-tourism protests in Barcelona and Valencia as members of Arran, a young people’s group which is closely linked to the CUP Catalan separatist political party, hurled a smoke canister at a tourist bus in the city of Valencia. In Barcelona demonstrators actually “hijacked” a tour bus and draped their banner over the top, with a slogan reading (in Catalan) “Stop mass tourism in the Catalan lands”, the implication being that the Balearic Islands and the region of Valencia are part of what Arran view as a separate Catalan nation.
Meanwhile, following the very wet spring weather in most of Spain (Murcia excluded, of course), experts are warning that there could be a “plague” of ticks this summer, and that the phenomenon is not restricted to the countryside and rural areas. Of course ticks are not only unsightly and irritating, they also carry diseases, and members of the public are being advised to take the utmost care to protect both themselves and their pets.
At least there is one positive side to the continuation of the drought in Murcia!
For more details on these and other stories, scroll down below…
Would you like to receive this bulletin?
If you enjoyed this free weekly round-up, then please forward it on to your friends. If you have received this from a friend and would like to have it sent directly, then click Register for weekly bulletin to sign up.
NONE OF THE TODAY PRODUCTS HARVESTS OR SELLS EMAILS IN ANY WAY and we GUARANTEE your details will not be passed on, sold, or used for any other purpose, and are maintained in an off-site facility from which you can unsubscribe at any time.
We also welcome contributions from local charities or clubs, including post event reports, news items and forthcoming events. Use the contact button in the top header to contact our editorial team.
Images: Copyrighted Murcia Today and Efe. Full or partial reproduction prohibited.
