ARCHIVED - Murcia and Spanish news round-up week ending 1st February
Brits spent 2 million euros an hour in Spain last year
With the month of January over it is tempting to imagine that the short Murcia winter is now behind us, but despite temperatures having been up in the 20s this week – Águilas was the warmest place in Spain on Sunday and Thursday – the weekend is set provide a reminder that this is not quite the case!
By Sunday maximums are likely to be around 15 degrees even on the coast, and although rain is unlikely to affect the Costa Cálida to any significant extent some light showers could even bring a dusting of snow to higher ground in the north-west. However, the main warnings relate to high winds, and on the coast orange alert status is in place due to the possibility of Force 8 gales and waves of up to 4 metres.
Meanwhile, the Region of Murcia International Airport in Corvera may have been up and running for a fortnight after a decade of setbacks, changes of plan and delays, but that doesn’t mean that it is no longer headline news. This week it has been reported the Aeromur consortium, which won the initial construction and management contract but saw that contracted rescinded by the Murcia government in 2013, is claiming compensation amounting to precisely 518,508,495 euros, and that the claim has been admitted for consideration by the High Court of Justice of the Region of Murcia. This is far more than the value of the airport according to an inventory carried out in 2015, as it includes the alleged loss of revenue caused by the rescission, and is close to the amount which the regional government is considering claiming in a similar lawsuit.
At the same time, frustration appears to be growing over the delay in receiving civil aviation authority permission to name the airport after the aviation pioneer Juan de la Cierva, who was born in Murcia in 1895. There is a worry that the reticence on the part of Spain’s civil aviation authority to accept the proposed name could be the misconception that he was a supporter of General Franco, but the Town Hall of Murcia dismissed this idea in its pleno meeting and this week requested that the national government should approves the name “immediately and without further delay”.
So, with the government and the former concessionary trading 500-million-euro lawsuits and the facility at the centre of a row related to the regime of a man who died 44 years ago, there is little danger of Corvera airport disappearing from the headlines!
Tourism news
Data were published on Friday which underlined once again the importance of British tourists to the Spanish economy, with the amount spent by visitors from the UK while in this country last year reaching just under 18 billion euros.
That equates to visitors from the UK spending an average of 2 MILLION EUROS PER HOUR throughout the year in Spain, and makes it easy to understand why tourism is one of the many sectors in which there are serious concerns over the possible effects of Brexit after 29th March. The worry is that any further devaluation of the pound against the euro, or any restrictions imposed on travel between the UK and the EU, could deter visitors and have a serious impact on the economy not only of the main tourist regions but also of Spain as a whole.
120-square-metre poster for the Cabezo de Torres Carnival this year! The giant graffiti art mural is reproduced on the 2019 Carnival poster.
Pipper the canine influencer goes on tour to promote dog tourism: Spain's first canine influencer puts dog tourism in the spotlight!
Agriculture and the environment
Far-right party Vox opposes Tajo-Segura water supply to Murcia irrigation farmers: the farmers claim that 110,000 jobs would be lost if the canal were taken out of service 40 years after it was opened, while Vox court Castilla-La Mancha voters but do themselves no favours in Murcia.
Murcia united to north Africa and Palestine by historic palm grove route: the palm groves of Murcia were part of a trading route established by the Moors over 1,000 years ago.
Council and farmers unite in Puerto Lumbreras to reject huge solar power plant: the local economy depends heavily on irrigation farming and the opinion is that nothing must be allowed to prevent further development: not even clean, environmentally friendly energy production!
San Javier divers continue voluntary underwater clean-up in La Manga: debris of all kinds removed from the marine environment by volunteer divers.
Nautilus submarine system launched to monitor water quality in the Mar Menor: average visibility in the lagoon has increased to a depth of over 5 metres, making the sea bed visible form the surface at almost all points, and all parameters are at far better levels than a year ago.
Measures to reduce flood damage on Mar Menor beaches and local roads: after rain in November caused flooding in Los Alcázares, traffic disruption and sand loss along the inland shore of the lagoon work is under way to improve roads and clear drainage channels.
On the roads
Plans to widen the Murcia-Alhama motorway published in the Official State Bulletin: at the same time a new bypass will be built around the city of Murcia to ease congestion as plans progress to cater for more traffic in the Costa Cálida.
Lower speed limit now in force on major single carriageway roads: fines can be levied on drivers clocking 97 km/h or over as the limit drops from 100 to 90 on these major trunk roads.
Can the Guardia Civil fine you for driving with your coat on? Social network scare stories abound regarding punishable offences at the wheel in Spain…
