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The total cost of Corvera Airport to the Autonomous Community will amount to €336 million, according to PSOE deputy Alfonso Martínez Baños. He revealed this figure during the Regional Assembly’s commission of enquiry into the failed settlement presented by the Ministry of Public Works to the initial concessionaire, led by Sacyr, which was subsequently annulled by the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ).

 

The cost calculation includes the €180 million loan that the Community guaranteed to Sacyr when the company ran out of funds to complete the project, as well as the interest accrued and the expenses related to completing and opening the airport in January 2019. The Ministry of Public Works (Consejería de Fomento) is scheduled to finalise the loan repayment by January 2026.

 

The enquiry committee was established following the TSJ’s decision to overturn the 2019 settlement that the regional government presented to Sacyr. The first witness called before the committee was Luis del Rivero, the former president of Sacyr, who was at the helm when the airport was constructed.

 

Joaquín Rocamora, the former director of Legal Services for the Regional Administration until September 2023, assured the committee that communication between the lawyers of the regional administration and those of the Regional Ministry of Development remained constant throughout the process. He also noted that Sacyr filed 30 appeals against the Community, most of which resulted in rulings favouring the regional administration.

 

Rocamora further explained that an intra-judicial mediation was attempted between the regional government and Sacyr, initiated by the TSJ, but no positive resolution was achieved. Now serving as secretary of Alguazas Town Hall, Rocamora declined to answer most of the committee’s questions regarding the annulled settlement, citing that he had left his position before the TSJ’s ruling in September 2024.

 

However, he did confirm that a new settlement has been submitted by the Regional Ministry of Public Works, which could still allow the Community to recover the funds it is seeking from Sacyr.