€30m tramway is rusting away

THE Velez Malaga tram has lain abandoned since 2012.

Inaugurated in October 2006 and built at a cost of €30 million, the tram was the transport of choice for 64 per cent of Velez Malaga’s population for almost six years.

The service was suspended two years ago.

The decision was made by Mayor Francisco Delgado Bonilla after the Junta de Andalucia regional government refused to participate in the co-management of the tram.

Now, the pioneering multi-million-euro project has sunk into oblivion and fallen victim to rust and undergrowth.

The lack of maintenance has also attracted vandals and thieves who have stolen the copper cables and stoned the traffic lights and glass billboards.

Some drivers have even got used to parking their cars on the tramway tracks and the council has started dismantling the street lights to install them in other areas of town.

To find a solution, Velez Malaga Council has asked the Junta de Andalucia to finance the tram, just as it does the Malaga underground.