The Palacio de Congresos company, co-owned by the regional government and the town hall, has announced that the adjudication of the operators of the convention centre and hotel will be known between November and December this year.
The specification for the tender has now been agreed, albeit not unanimously: Som Palma (Podemos) abstained. The period for the tender will be between July and August, and the winning bidder will have four months to get the whole site up and running.
The company's president, Palma's tourism councillor, Joana Maria Adrover, was asked if this will mean that the Palacio will be open for business by the end of the year, as had been envisaged. She said that this would depend on the winning bidder's "capacity for reaction". As there is a four-month period after the adjudication is due to be made, then this end-of-year prediction might seem rather hopeful.
Biel Barceló, the regional vice-president, said that "the most important" thing was that the operator should have experience in managing convention centres. He hopes that the winning company will be able to "maximise performance" at the complex in the low and medium seasons.
As previously announced, the minimum cost to rent the whole complex will be 1,585,000 euros plus VAT per annum. The award will be for 15 years with an optional three-year extension.
A further aspect of the specification is that the minimum number of attendees will need to be 50,000 per annum by the fifth year. This has been raised from 35,000, the increase having been made following criticisms from members of the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos who had pointed out that the previous tender had included a specification demand of 65,000.
The PP's Alvaro Gijón, having seen the financial study by the consultants Deloitte to support the specification, argues that the conditions have been lowered - both the number of attendees and the income.