Opposition politicians demand straight answers about Corvera airport

A national daily headlined ”Murcia airport remains on the ground for another summer.”

There has been a universal call for more information from opposition political parties within the Region of Murcia in relation to a press report about the current financial situation at Corvera airport which appeared in El Confidencial at the weekend.

The paper wrote a piece entitled, “The new Murcia airport remains on the ground and stays shut for another summer. “

The piece reiterated the same old theme already reported many times about the problems in opening the installations: Lack of agreement between Aena and the airport operator, Aeromur with reference to the 70 million compensation demanded by Aena in order to close San Javier airport and transfer operations to Corvera, the decline in passenger traffic through San Javier ( more than 50% decline since 2007) which has led to a request to renegotiate the conditions of the concession, a request which the paper claims has been denied by the regional government and then the all important subject of the loan guarantee given by the regional government for the completion of the installations, some 200 million euros.

This is described by the paper as a “sword of Damocles” hanging over the regional government, as the period for repayment should have now begun, the airport having been completed more than a year ago, yet still non-operational.

Although the paper had tried to obtain a firm opening date, they had achieved the same degree of success as the regional media who have been hoping to announce the opening date for the last year: nothing. The paper said, “On Thursday a spokesperson from the Consejería ( of culture and tourism) said they were unable to give details of an opening date as this depended on the public works department. It was impossible to obtain any details from this second department after two days of trying to obtain an answer. “

They achieved a little more success with Aeromur, the concessionary, “it’s certain that there are three months to go to summer and our desire is to open as soon as possible. Although at the moment there have been no significant advances with Aena to transfer operations from San Javier. “

The paper concluded: Sources amongst airport technicians have indicated to this paper that they don´t see how the new airport could start operations before October or November even if the agreement was signed and sealed today. So Corvera airport remains closed for the second summer following completion of the infrastructure and the next tourism season will operate from San Javier, which already has its programming prepared for the summer. “

This article compounds the negative press coverage being given to the airport following a claim made by la Opinión that the concessionary has ceased to pay loan repayments due to the current situation.

In response to the article, opposition politicians have called for greater transparency and answers as to whether the regional government intends to execute the loan guarantee.

The head of the UPyD, Rafael Sánchez, called on the regional president to “clear up once and for all” queries relating to the loan guarantee. He also insisted that the “residents of the region be informed about what really is going on at Corvera.”

“The summer campaign is already lost, “he said, “and there are ever more evident doubts about whether the airport will ever actually open, “ and he also said a great deal more, the words, “waste, disaster, inviability, lack of responsibility, political opportunism and disgrace” all fairly prominent in the text.

The PSOE adopted a similar tack, saying the prospect of residents of the region having to finance a 200 million loan guarantee was “alarming.”
María José Lajarín, secretary of infrastructure for the regional PSOE, reminded potential voters that the President of the Region had assured residents on many occasions that the new airport facility was not going to cost Murcians a cent and was concerned that the media were reporting that the concessionary “was not paying the money it owed to the banks.”

“Now this is another star project of the president which has blown up through poor management, as what we have at the moment is an airport with debts and without planes.”

 “How does the president think we are going to be able to pay 200 million euros more on top of the debts we already have,“ she asked.
“Why is the regional government not being more belligerent with Rajoy’s government to find a solution to this problem, “ adding, “Valcárcel can´t keep hiding: he has to come to the regional assembly and give explanations about what is happening, “ she insisted.

Yesterday the Regional minister for Culture and tourism, Pedro Alberto Cruz, responded to questions about the situation at the airport when presenting a cultural initiative, by saying that there are numerous alternatives for getting the airport operational, and that the most difficult part of the project, the construction, had now been completed. Only the last few details remained to be confirmed in order to initiate operations at the new airport “as soon as possible.“

The straight answer to reader queries as to when the airport will open at Corvera, is “we simply don´t know.” Book flights for San Javier or Alicante for the summer season.


All historical articles relating to Corvera airport can be accessed by typing in the word Corvera, or IARM,  into the key word search box at the top of the page.
 

Image:  President Valcárcel visiting the airport during construction