In 2023 the works will begin in Mijas on the largest park in Andalusia
Updated: Jan 23
With an electoral year that promises great interests and great bets, the Mijas Town Hall activates the machinery to build the Great Park of the Costa del Sol.
It will have an area of about 350,000 square meters and a contract for just over 32.8 million euros for the execution of this green and recreational area.
The Gran Parque de la Costa is projected just 1.5 km from the urban center on the land of the Cortijo del Ahogadero, in Las Lagunas.
The mayor of Mijas, Josele González, the first deputy mayor and councilor for Infrastructures and Works, José Carlos Martín, and the councilors of Contracting and Urbanism, Roy Pérez and Andrés Ruiz, respectively, have announced that the works of the Great Park of the Costa del Sol, which will extend over 36 hectares and will have 20,000 plants and around 2,000 trees and shrubs.
The Park area is very close to the Cerros del Águila urbanization and the road that goes up to the Hippodrome. "It will be the great green lung, not only of our city, but of the entire province and that it will also be among the most important in Andalusia", highlighted the councilor, who has indicated that the works could be awarded in the first half of 2023 and start the works below.
The project's goal is to build a large space for leisure, sports and culture in the open air: an amphitheatre, an artificial lake, children's play areas and board games, a climbing wall, bike and running tracks and even a dog park.
Regarding the pace of the works, Martín has indicated that for this year "we will be able to see how the work of this great project begins, which has been going on for almost six years and has been a challenge for the local administration since we have had to overcome great technical difficulties that have been presented to us, as well as the discovery of one of the most important Roman sites on the Costa del Sol". In this sense, according to the Councilor for Works, "the original project was drawn up in 2017 and A year later it had to be modified and divided into two (a park on one side and bridges on the other) to save the archaeological find by adapting the bridges to the new cultural situation".
Another of the obstacles that the local administration has had to overcome is the administrative process to obtain all the land: despite the fact that most of the plots were municipally owned, it has been necessary to obtain private plots to complete the project. The Mijas Town Hall has had to obtain all the public and private land, divided into a dozen plots, where the smallest of them measured just 6 square meters and the largest 200,000 square meters.
The works are divided into two phases: on the one hand, the green area project itself and, on the other, the two access bridges, so the first of them is currently in public tender for an amount of 32.7 million of euros.
The term of execution of the works amounts to 18 months in this first phase. Interested companies may submit their offers until January 30.
A great space to enjoy outdoor activities
The design of the park includes the proposals of the neighbors collected through a participatory email and the drawing and writing contest carried out in the schools of Mijas.
In this great project, nature is always the protagonist, taking advantage of, for example, the particular orography of the area. Here we highlight an amphitheater where cultural shows such as concerts and plays can be organized. In addition, sports areas such as running tracks on the perimeter, bike and skating lanes, skate park, a climbing wall, a navigable lake, an area for board games and a petanque court.
The architectural style that it will carry is the typical Andalusian one with allusions to the taxi donkey, the Arab tiles, the forge, the exposed pilaster, geometric tiles and all those elements that define us as a town. These will be used in fountains, kiosks and, most singularly, the construction of a temple.