Every day Mijas is closer to being able to launch a new sports project on the grounds of the Costa del Sol Racecourse, as announced by the mayor, Josele González (PSOE), and the councillor for Town Planning, Andrés Ruiz (Cs), who have defined this day as a 'historic day for Mijas', in which an agreement has been signed that allows the council to take possession of the property and move forward in achieving the ownership of the land after the company Mijas Recursos Turísticos having been in insolvency proceedings since May 2018. 

"This is a historic day; after almost 5 years of bankruptcy proceedings we have managed to take the final step for the land of the former Costa del Sol Racecourse to return to municipal ownership. Thanks to the signing of the deeds after the judicial approval with the insolvency administrator and on the part of the Town Hall, which once it regains ownership will be able to restore order and return this area to normality, regularising in any case the activity on the site", explains the mayor, who stresses that this agreement will allow "the unblocking of the situation of these 300,000 square metres, which are of great value to the municipality and in which we already foresee being able to start up a sports facility, which is what this land is intended for and which can be available to the people of Mijas, as there is an imperative need to expand the sports facilities and which, moreover, is located in a strategic location". 

Both have wanted to thank the various departments of the Town Hall such as Legal Counsel, Mayor's Office, Heritage and Town Planning, among others, for their dedication and involvement to make this possible. They also praised the difficult work carried out by the municipal staff. 

 

For his part, the Town Planning councillor highlighted "the importance of this historic milestone achieved after more than 6 years of work to avoid losing something as important as maintaining the ownership of the Hippodrome plot. Now, having the ownership and possession of the land, this will allow us to value this area and make it available to the people of Mijas. Work that, he asserts, "has not been without difficulties and in which it has been necessary to overcome modifications of partial plans, re-plotting projects, disputes over government board agreements, an arduous task that, at last, has seen the result thanks to the achievement of this agreement, which ensures the availability of this land classified as sports facilities to improve the services available to our residents, thanks to the implementation of a major sports project on the land". 

A laborious procedure

It was a long and tedious procedure that is now bearing fruit, as explained by Eduardo Aguilar, head of the Legal Department of the Mijas Town Hall, who wanted to thank his predecessor in the post, Pepe Almenara, for his work, "this is a very complex issue that has finally come to a successful conclusion. At the moment the insolvency proceedings are still open and with the compensation received by Mijas Recursos Turísticos, the insolvency will be lifted due to supervening solvency. We also had a contentious administrative procedure by the insolvency administrator against an agreement of the Town Hall and now we have reached this agreement that allows the situation to be unblocked". 

This new step taken by the local government will now allow us to proceed with the physical and legal clearance of the property, proceeding first to pay all debtors recognised by the commercial court and among which is also the Mijas Town Hall. "Once this step has been taken and the insolvency proceedings have been lifted, the company will enter the liquidation phase". This last step, the government team explains, will allow all the assets of Mijas Recursos Turísticos to pass into the hands of the Local Administration as the Town Hall is the 100% proprietor of the company. 

Debt repayment

With the signing of the agreement sealed today, the debt will be paid to the creditors of the public company Mijas Recursos Turísticos, which also includes the local administration. This payment will be possible, among other things, thanks to the resolution of the discrepancy in the plenary session regarding the availability of 6.7 million euros to settle the creditors' arrangement. 

Among the steps to be taken now by the Town Hall, and once the ownership of the land has been obtained, are the carrying out of an audit to certify the current state of the facilities, it will take charge of control of access and the use of the facilities, as well as an increase in the security of the same. 

The local government is celebrating this milestone which will allow the transformation of the grounds of the old Costa del Sol Hippodrome into a large sports area, which they plan to start with a public competition for ideas. "Now is the time to act with caution and determination so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated and we manage to make this space available to the people of Mijas", said the mayor. 

 

Background 

Since 2011 the company Mijas Recursos Turísticos, responsible for the management of this space, had accumulated large debts to various suppliers, including private companies and public entities such as the Town Hall itself, owed nearly 4 million euros.

Recursos Turísticos, responsible for the management to date of the Costa del Sol Racecourse, entered into insolvency proceedings in May 2018 and entered into a long administrative and judicial process not without administrative and procedural difficulties. From that date, the management of this space and any actions that could be developed in the facilities would be the responsibility of the insolvency administrator. 

In November 2020, the Local Governing Board moved towards obtaining the ownership of the land by ratifying in the Local Governing Board the donation of shares at zero cost made by Unicaja Banco, S.A., of the company Recursos Turísticos de Mijas, S.A., in favour of the Mijas Town Hall. A move that meant that from that moment on the local Administration will be the sole shareholder of the company managing the racecourse.

Finally, in May 2022, the local government took another step forward after resolving in plenary session the discrepancy over the availability of 6.7 million euros to liquidate the bankruptcy proceedings, an essential step to provide a solution to the Costa del Sol Racecourse, following the administrative litigation opened by the bankruptcy administration against the Town Hall in 2019.
 

Share it with this link: https://mijasint.com/?a=26854