The Balearic Government's land liberalisation law as it affects Mallorca has been criticised for a failure to provide an official analysis as to its impact. In the absence of this analysis, a platform called 'Mallorca per viure, no per especular' (Mallorca to live, not to speculate) has commissioned a study led by geographer Gabriel Garcies. This calculates that 252,810 residential places could be created in so-called transition areas. These would require a reclassification of rustic land in order to enable building; the law allows for this.
The latest population figure for Mallorca is 966,908. While it doesn't follow that the building of new properties on rustic land would increase the population by the number of residential places that have been estimated, there is the potential for further significant growth in population. Mallorca per viure believes the law "is a demographic bomb for a saturated island with resources such as water already at the limit".
The government is accused of legislative change "with the excuse of making more social housing". "The reality is that it is a gift to developers without any forecast of the environmental, territorial and demographic consequences it will entail".
The researchers have drawn up a 'map of speculation' for seven municipalities in Mallorca - Palma, Llucmajor, Manacor, Inca, Marratxi, Calvia and Alcudia. These are the municipalities contemplated in the law; they are the only ones with current populations of 20,000 or more.
More than half of the estimated residential places - 142,650 - would be in Palma. Marratxi, by contrast and as an example, would have 27,180; Calvia 21,240.
Mallorca per viure states: "The law promotes growth within these areas without any quantification. There is no forecast of the hectares affected, of the buildings that can be built, of which urban centres are the most affected. Nor does it quantify the territorial and environmental demographic impact."