The new Gran Parque de Mijas, a project which began to take shape more than eight years ago, is almost a reality. In the summer of 2023, the first stone was laid for this new “green lung”, the largest on the Costa del Sol, and the work is practically on schedule, so that if everything continues as planned, it will be open to the public in May 2025.
In this final stretch, the design and leisure offerings that the facilities will feature can already be clearly seen. “The roads and infrastructures are practically finished and now the main task is to plant the trees and shrubs,” said the councillor for works, Juan José Torres Trella, during a tour of the future park. The councillor put the current completion of the work at 90 per cent and explained that they have waited until now to plant the trees because it is the best time of the year to do so.
A total of 2,900 trees and shrubs will be planted throughout the 27 hectares of land that make up the park. Trella stated that due to the drought, the type of specimens to be planted has been reconsidered. Initially, the planned species required 2,350 cubic metres of water per month, but with the change in species, “we have reduced it to about 350 cubic metres, which represents a 300 per cent reduction in water consumption”.
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There have also been changes with respect to the initial project in terms of access. Specifically, this large green area extends in length from the cemetery to the Cerros del Águila housing estate and in width to the vicinity of Venta La Morena, an area known as ‘El Ahogadero’. This area is only a kilometre and a half away from the centre.
The initial project envisaged access via two bridges from the cemetery and from Venta La Morena, but these bridges will not be built until a later phase: instead, the existing roads have been adapted to accommodate the traffic that is expected for a facility of this size, and a parking area of around a thousand spaces has been created in the access area from the cemetery.
Regarding the expenses and revenues the park will generate once completed, and taking into account that it has already required an investment of 27.5 million euros, it is currently known that its maintenance—including gardening, security, and general upkeep—will cost around three million euros per year, as specified in the contract’s terms and conditions recently put out to tender by the town hall.
The income from concessions will have to be subtracted from these costs, as there are plans to award certain services within the park, such as boats for the navigable lake, the zip line, bicycle rental, a possible tourist train or events organised in the amphitheatre. According to the councillor, all these possibilities are currently being studied.
Once open, this park will have a number of very attractive spaces, including an artificial lake with a pavilion, an amphitheatre with a capacity for 1,900 people standing and 1,500 seated, and a splashpark, or in other words, an area for water games for children. There will also be a dog park, children’s areas and sports courts, including a large skatepark.
Source: Sur in English
