The Junta de Andalucía has indicated this Thursday that its support has allowed the reopening in Mijas (Málaga) of the La Zambra hotel (former Byblos) closed for more than twelve years and has meant, according to the Administration’s calculations, the creation of «1,300 jobs ».
The Minister of Economy, Finance and European Funds, Carolina España, has inaugurated the establishment launched after the public-private collaboration, which has involved an investment of more than 57 million euros, according to the Board in a statement.
La Zambra is one of the completed projects that have been financed thanks to the Urban Development Fund (FDU), a financial instrument endowed with Feder and Andalusian funds, aimed at promoting investments that help revitalize cities.
Carolina España has underlined that during the construction process of the hotel, 1,070 jobs have been created, to which some 250 are added in the start-up and exploitation phase. FDU financing (loan) has been 20 million euros.
«This establishment is a reality in which today a way of understanding the management of this community is specified: an idea, a project of what Andalusia should be, which is taking shape thanks to the perseverance of Juanma Moreno who, since he arrived to the Presidency of the Board, has made an effort to make Andalusia a territory whose economy grows in dynamism and agility”, Carolina España pointed out. “As a consequence”, she has said, “we generate confidence in businessmen, who are the ones who really create jobs”.
The completion of the project involves the commissioning of an infrastructure in disuse, “forgotten for twelve years, which is now used to promote tourism in the town and reinforce the hotel offer to attract foreign tourists,” the councilor pointed out. In the design of the project, a significant innovative effort has been made in digitization and efficiency in the use of energy, while at the same time trying to respect the architecture of the old establishment.
The management of the project has been processed by Arcano Capital, one of the intermediaries commissioned by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to manage the Urban Development Fund, which has 200 million euros underway in viable investment initiatives that have an impact in the urban development of Andalusia.
Along with the councilor and the mayor of Mijas, Josele González, the delegate of the Government of the Andalusian Government in Malaga, Patricia Navarro, and representatives of Intriva, the company that promotes the Hotel La Zambra, as well as the group The Zambra.
DIGITALIZATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
The projects of the Urban Development Fund, whose resources come mainly from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Feder de Andalucía 2014-2020 operational program and the Junta de Andalucía, are intended to promote digitization, energy efficiency and reduction of emissions, environmental improvement, preservation of cultural and tourist heritage and revitalization of cities, and social inclusion.
The Andalusian Urban Development Fund has supported another seven projects in Andalusia: the recovery and expansion of the former Cadiz Free Time Residence as a hotel after twelve years closed and inactive; the construction of what will be the largest student residence in Spain in Seville, which will involve a total investment of close to 60 million euros; a trilingual school in Estepona; a sports center in Seville; a thematic museum of olive oil in Ronda (Málaga), which will become the first author project in olive oil tourism in Europe; the urbanization works of the first phase of the Megahub Andalusia logistics platform, a public-private initiative resulting from the agreement between the company Puerto Seco de Antequera and the Andalusian Ports Public Agency, as well as the construction of a sports center in Jerez de la Border (Cadiz).