A NEVER ENDING STORY?
As can be seen from the tortuous path the project has taken, it seems as if the project was doomed from the very start, despite lawmakers wanting this project to go-ahead due to the jobs and additional revenue it will bring to their respective jurisdictions.
After the unfavourable report from the Department of Climate Action the mayor of Vila-Seca Pere Segura managed to put a positive spin on the news saying that it was one more step in the definitive approval of the urban master plan, which he stated could take place towards the end of the year.
“Tere will come a point when investors will go crazy,” exclaimed Segura, who expressed his concern over the administrative slowness. “It is not normal that we spend 10 years processing, discussing and picking over certain issues,” he said.
However, the next month the mayor of the municipality Salou Pere Granados said that Hard Rock had stopped work on the tourist complex. Granados blamed the government directly for the stoppage of the project demanding that the Catalan executive advance in the approval of the Urban Master Plan. Granados said that the Hard Rock project has always had his “firmest support” and that he and the members of his administration wanted it to happen soon.
Te mayor of Salou pointed out that the Hard Rock project would mean a “contribution of wealth and employment” and be a step towards the economy unshackling itself from dependancy on seasonal tourists. “We also want economic and, above all, social sustainability, with labour contracts not only seasonally, but throughout the year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the president of the Catalan Government, Pere Aragonès, said that the government was doing its part by trying to get a modified version of the Master Plan approved. In December 2022, Aragonès insisted that a “new urban plan” was being worked on.
The mayor of Salou pointed out that the Hard Rock project would mean a “contribution of wealth and employment” and be a step towards the economy not depending solely on seasonal
tourists. “We also want economic and above all social sustainability” he said.
Meanwhile the president of the Catalan Government said that the government was doing its part and trying to get a modified version of the Master Plan approved.
P103 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
This dispute could drag the process out further and opposition groups will continue to rally against it. Yet despite these problems lawmakers are trying to get the project green lit. In December, Mayor of Salou,
Pere Granados, said boldly that building work could begin this year. However, we’ve heard similar predictions from
lawmakers for over 10 years . All the same it is by no means over yet...
LAND AND TAX ISSUES
While both town mayors want the project to get the go-ahead, one sticking point has been taxes and this in turn has changed alongside the way in which land is to be distributed on the site.
According to local daily, Diari de Tarragona, under current plans the complex is 40 hectares less than was envisaged in the master plan of 2016. Te new master plan also reserves two large spaces for environmental protection, 54 green hectares that run parallel to the Raval de la Mar and act as a border between a petrochemical complex and the future tourist complex. Tese lands, located in the municipality of Vila-seca, have also ceded 10 hectares outside of the resort so that the project can get the go-ahead.
Te modification of the Master Plan was accompanied by the approval of a change in the statutes that established a tax distribution of 59 per cent for Salou and 41 per cent for Vila-seca, depending on the land that each locality has within the integrated resort. Te Government of Catalonia, and Vila-seca, voted in favour of the new proposal for the redistribution of local taxes derived from Hard Rock's economic activity, but Salou city hall is strongly against this.
Lawmakers in Salou argue that the agreement over how revenue from the resort approved in 2013 must be maintained. Tis established a tax rate of 57 per cent (Salou) and 43 per cent (Vila- seca,), but also established that 100 per cent of the taxes generated on the land of the Integrated Tourist Complex would stay in the municipality where the activity is located.
Te dispute could drag the process out even further and opposition groups will continue to rally against it. Yet despite these problems, lawmakers are still trying to get the project the green light. In December, Mayor of Salou, Pere Granados, said boldly that building work could begin this year. However, we’ve heard similar predictions from lawmakers for over 10 years now. All the same, it is by no means over yet and we can expect to see local lawmakers fighting hard for the project this year.
WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P103
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