Major infrastructural works underway will improve communications on the Costa del Sol

diana
Diana Morales DM Properties
3 minutes to read

While April showers combine with spring sunshine to produce a landscape of greenery and colour, and the first large fiestas of the year are underway, much of the local news at the moment centres on the grand infrastructural schemes that are further improving communications in Southern Spain. First came the beautifully engineered motorways that offer a quick connection between the Costa del Sol and Malaga’s international airport, then spread westwards all the way to Jerez and now Cádiz, ensuring that there is now a quick, safe and convenient motorway link all the way from Malaga through Marbella and Sotogrande to both the coastal areas and heartland of the Costa de la Luz region.

Moreover, parts of these routes offer stunning scenery too, but at the moment talk is above all of the expansion of the international airport and the impending arrival of the new high speed AVE rail link. It has been possible for some time now to travel from Malaga to Madrid in around 4½ hours, but soon the Talgo train that offers this service will find itself outdated by the modern AVE, Spain’s adaptation of the original French TGV. As the names suggest, this is a high-speed train in the true sense, adding comfort to speed as it whizzes you from Malaga new central station to the heart of Madrid in little over 2½ hours. Just recently, Spain’s Minister of Development, Magdalena Alvarez confirmed that work is on course and that scheduled services are expected to begin at the end of the year.

An airport for the future

With 13 million passengers handled in 2006, Malaga’s international airport is one of the busiest tourist-orientated airports in Europe. To alleviate a lack of parking space and improve overall facilities, not to mention cope with future demand, plans were unveiled in 2002 for a new passenger terminal and parking area. A second runway, currently under construction and expected for completion in 2010, is an integral part of this expansion programme, which will see car parking spaces doubled and a range of new services included.

The project involves an investment of almost €900 million, as a result of which an ultramodern passenger terminal will take shape with 84 new check-in points catering for up to 9,000 passengers at peak times. At the moment, the capacity stands at 6,555, but the new 224,000m2 terminal is not only designed to handle capacity, but offer quality and easy use as well. As elsewhere, such major improvements in infrastructure and communications are good news for property owners.

Developing the right properties

Among the many facets of the property industry so frequently highlighted there is one important factor that is often overlooked: the development of properties. No, not the actual building, designing, styling, financing, marketing or even planning of projects and individual homes, but the all-important question: what should be built, where and in which quantities?

In any other industry this is called Product Development, a vital part of any company’s success. Read more about the important decision making processes involved and the repercussions they can have on the property landscape in our next Newsletter.

Diana Morales, 01 May 2007 - News

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