Spain’s Costa Blanca ‘white elephant’ to be demolished for more than original construction budget

The City Council of PILAR DE LA HORADADA has allocated close to 3 million euros of public money to the demolition of an unfinished cultural center that has not been worked on since 2006.

Construction costs skyrocketed from the €2 million budget presented in 2001 to €9 million just five years later.

The Marina Baches Cultural Center project was officially scrapped in 2014.

The bidding period for a contract valued at just under 3 million euros to demolish the building has ended, and the winning bid will be announced this month.

The structure sits on the northern edge of downtown Pilar and was once called “the shame of the city.”

Nicknamed La Paloma, it achieved national notoriety as an example of the massive waste of Spanish municipalities during the boom period of the first decade of the century.

The contract for the site also involves the creation of an access to an unused underground car park and the construction of a public square.

The total value of the work exceeds the original financing of the ill-fated project by 1 million euros.

Another drain on the public coffers was the 2020 Supreme Court ruling by which the Pilar City Council had to pay 2.7 million euros in compensation to two companies for the loss of income derived from unopened parking.

The La Paloma site will also see a second phase development of a 1,489 m2 multi-use building that will cost €3 million.

There the social services will offer consultations, and there will be computer rooms and a restaurant.

No timeline has been given for when that construction contract will be announced.

READ MORE: