ENVIRONMENTALISTS are celebrating after their decades-long struggle to demolish the huge unfinished Hotel El Algarrobico in Almeria is finally bearing fruit.
Luis Berraquero, Coordinator for Greenpeace Andalucía, told the Olive Press that after years of fighting, the building can now be demolished.
The local Carboneras’ town hall approved revoking the construction license earlier this month.
Berraquero indicated that this is a huge step to destroying what Greenpeace considers ‘one of the biggest urbanistic scandals on the coastline’ and a ‘symbol of the destruction’ of the coast.
Greenpeace now wants the hotel to be demolished as soon as possible, adding that the Carboneras town hall is legally required to begin the demolition process.
The incomplete hotel looms over an otherwise unspoilt stretch of coastline in Almería’s Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, its vast white concrete structure cascading down the barren hillside towards the beach.
Built in stark contrast to the rugged mountains, deserted beach and Mediterranean waves, the massive building dominates the landscape, appearing almost like a stranded cruise ship.
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Berraquero said the land was never suitable to build on from the very beginning.
A construction company acquired the land in 1999 and began construction, completely disregarding the Ley de Costas (Coastal Law) that prohibited any construction within 100 metres of any natural park.
Since construction began around the climax of the property bubble, serious irregularities were allegedly committed both by the construction company and the authorities of Carboneras.
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Protests started in 2005 with Greenpeace leading the movement and the Boletin Oficial del Estado (BOE) confirming that the limit of the coastline was affected by the hotel.
Construction of the massive complex, which was to have 21 floors and 411 rooms, was stopped in February 2006 by court order.
It was never resumed, and has sat as an ugly, abandoned eyesore for over two decades now.
Greenpeace drew attention to the abandoned building by painting ‘Illegal Hotel’ across its facade.
Over the following years, the group staged several protests, including covering the hotel in black plastic. But the issue always revolved around who would pay for its demolition.
The government in Madrid and the Junta managed to come to an agreement in 2011, through which the state would be in charge of demolition and the Junta would take care of the environmental reconstruction.
Now, finally, that process can go ahead.
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