ARCHIVED - Paramount theme park Murcia, Put on your seatbelt, Cruz talks of the convoluted task ahead

Murcia Paramount theme Park, speculation is rife, and Samper tells us what hes looking for

2010-09-15

The Spanish press is rife with speculation about where the Paramount theme park in Murcia could possibly be, but lips are sealed tightly shut and all we can all do is speculate and wait for probably the next 3 weeks until the visitors from Paramount arrive to assess the options and make the final decision.

The Concejal for Culture , Pedro Cruz has answered some questions about the project and given more details about what is envisaged and who may be involved, but is also tight-lipped about the possible location.

What is emerging, is the fact that the Region of Murcia will not have to worry about paying for the land to cede to the developer, as municipalities and investors are falling over themselves to offer land and pitch for the opportunity to be the host of this project.

The institute for regional development has been given the task of collating the offers from the municipalities and assessing the suitability of the proposals made.

Jesus Samper gave an interview this morning to Punto radio in which he confirmed that the selected lands would have, "good road connections, something in which the region had made great progress during the lat few years, and proximity to AVE, high speed train links and to Corvera airport."

The AVE links is an interesting requirement as it has been the cause of the most titanic battles over the last few months, as central government has made massive cutbacks in development infrastructure funding, and Murcia as a region had to sacrifice new motorways and road infrastructure to fight for the money to guarantee the AVE line would arrive in Murcia Capital for 2014. Although the link from the capital, Murcia City, will run on to Cartagena and Lorca, no date has been given for this to happen and at the moment the line will stop in Lorca, not going through and out into Almeria. There are of course, other train links and services already running, but the trains require a different gauge of track, so are unable to host the high speed train which is slowly working along the Spanish coastline creating a track which will run right along Mediterranean Europe.

The Regional executive is quoted as saying that one of their main criteria is that the chosen location be within 20 minutes drive of the new International Corvera Airport, which fact alone would discount some of the candidates.

Samper also said in the interview that another of his criteria was that the area would need " sufficient hotel beds" within its reach, " to make it feasable" to attract the anticipated number of visitors.

This ia an interesting point, as one of the major criticisms being leveled at the region by outsiders is that it doesnt have hotel capacity to cope with the anticipated volumes of visitors, Murcias infrastructure being directed more to apartment rental tourism than mass package holidays.

The original projections for this site is that it would include hotel accommodation, figures being quoted of up to 15,000 beds, but Samper is undoubtedly thinking of the capacity of an area to host an overspill, or of the more likely probability of constructing less beds in a phased development, adding more beds as the demand dictates.

This fact alone could make some of the candidacies which have the most attractive land propositions weaker, and certainly Alhama, which is being heavily quoted in the Spanish press today, lacks hotel beds and an AVE link.

He said in the interview that the accommodation constructed would be designed to accommodate guests for several nights in a resort style location and would not be designed for just one night packages.

He also backed up the words of Pedro Cruz by saying that his vision for the park was not one of any other theme park currently in existence, but that his reference was Disneyland Paris and would neither be comparable to, or competing with, other theme parks already existing within Spain.

Pedro Cruz was cornered by journalists when presenting an arts related initiative and said that the park would be, " more than a theme park, more of an innovative reference for the leisure industry."

It has also been said that the park will incorporate casinos and the possible interest of both Russian and Korean investors has been discussed. This of course throws entirely new balls into the match, as gaming centres may be more interested in where the heavier populations are now, and where they are most likely to drive to, although saying that, isnt there a place called Las Vegas somewhere that used to be a little town in the middle of nowhere.

As of this moment though, the only known investor is Santa Monica, who have paid the first stage payments for the Paramount licensing rights, and who are still seeking partners to finance the project.

Even though no other investors have yet been named , the offers of land still keep coming in.

Lorca has added its candidacy to the list, offering possible sites in La Paca, Zarcilla de Ramos, La Hoya, and Cabo Cope. To be honest, with Zarcilla and La Paca having been the epicenter of a faily major earthquake a few years ago, they wouldnt be on our list for very long, but its not us making the decisions.

Torre Pacheco have also formally joined the list, along with Cieza.

A piece of land which had been offered near to Corvera airport has apparently been ruled out, as although ideally situated , is owned by a large number of people, and concerns are that it would be impossible to arrive at an agreement on price with so many parties involved.

Alhama is receiving widespread support from the Town Halls surrounding it, who are all keen to see the Guadalentin Valley, of which Alhama is a part, promoted more extensively, along with the Sierra Espuna. It has also been widely reported today that Alhama received a visit from a Paramount Executive in the spring, although to be fair, this was reported at the time of the visit, so is nothing new.

But it doesnt stop the bloodhounds yelping at the leash, as they scurry around hunting for that inside bit of info.

A decision is unlikely to be announced for 2-3 weeks until executives have visited the prospective locations, but of course, all of this depends on whether external investors are interested in becoming involved in the project, a theme which the Minister for Cuture rightly described as a " delicate and convoluted subject."

Dont we just know it.