El Algarrobico case drags on as €70 million at stake

ECOLOGISTAS EN ACCION are determined to defend their interests in the El Algarrobico lawsuit.

The Carboneras hotel was built within Spain’s 100-metre maritime exclusion zone. It is now due for demolition but was 94 per cent finished when work was forcibly halted in 2005.

This is the third time the environmentalist group has requested the High Court’s permission to participate in the court case that will decide whether the hotel’s promoters, Azata, can claim €70 million compensation.

Azata always maintained that El Algarrobico was built on land earmarked for building and was outside the exclusion zone. Ecologistas en Accion argue that the hotel breaks the Coastal Law and was built on protected land “as the company knew when building began.”

Azata wants the central government, Andalucia’s regional government, the Junta and Carboneras Town Hall to hand over a joint €70 million. This, the company claims, is compensation for the damages sustained after being ordered to halt the project.

Spain’s Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that Azata will not be entitled to compensation from the Administration if El Algarrobico is finally demolished, as it was legally obliged to comply with the Coastal Law before construction started.

The Junta has now deposited €2.313 million to cover the cost of the Algarrobico land. Meanwhile, it recognises that the Supreme and High Courts could eventually modify this sum, depending on evaluations decided in the course of the four lawsuits whose outcomes are still pending.