News of the dissolution of the Playa de Palma Consortium provoked exchanges in the Balearic parliament on Tuesday. The regional government faces a bill of up to 17 million euros: money that Madrid is demanding is paid back.
While the politicians squabble, the residents in Arenal are saying that there have been years of various projects with very poor results. It has been the citizens who have suffered most.
Many of these projects were either delayed or were never started, yet the consortium was supposed to have been the authority overseeing the grand transformation of Playa de Palma. Residents in Arenal have endured years of anxiety because they were regularly exposed to news that their homes or businesses were about to be expropriated. "They didn't know when or, in many instances, why," says a statement from the association.
The consortium, it adds, would announce that it would wave "its magic wand" and that there were would be some residents who would be lucky winners and others who would be losers. The association concludes that the consortium has wasted a great deal of time and money that has gone on salaries and projects which never had "any projection".
Meanwhile, the residents of that part of Arenal which is in Llucmajor are making familiar complaints about drunkenness, mess and street/beach drinking. The source of these complaints is primarily the spring break holidays for German and British students.
The town hall in Llucmajor admits that it has been taken a bit by surprise, as these holidays are earlier than previously. Consequently, it hadn't revised its cleaning schedules. Its bylaw on behaviour, under which there will be fines of up to 3,000 euros, hasn't yet been passed, but is expected to be this month.