Margarita del Cid, mayoress of Torremolinos, receives idealista/news in her City Hall office and reviews her mandate since she took power a year ago and the future of the city if she is re-elected in the next May elections. The maximum mayor took command of the Consistory in December 2021 thanks to a motion of no confidence in the Government formed by PSOE and Adelante (coalition between Podemos and Izquierda Unida). Del Cid makes a harsh criticism of the previous Local Executive in an urban key. “We found work license files that had not been processed for more than four years,” she says. Besides. the policy asserts that They are going to promote luxury tourism, especially in the heat of the type of promotions projected in the city in the following years. The international tourist (the British above all) continues to weigh heavily in the balance and sports tourism appears as one of the visitors with the greatest potential.
How do you feel after your party has ratified your candidacy for mayor of Torremolinos?
happy. Having won the elections, not having been able to govern due to a problem and then having regained the mayoralty a year ago… Now my party trusts me and my team again, because I am not alone, and thus I face this last stage of the legislature with a lot of hope.
How did you find the city and how has it progressed since your arrival?
Well, it’s a difficult subject. When December 20, 2021 arrived, we still had masks. During the legislature, the necessary measures had not been put in place to help citizens overcome the crisis. In fact, one of the things that we found is that the average period of payment to suppliers was absolutely skyrocketing and, what is worse, it was skyrocketing because they did not worry that the invoices for each of the services would go to the treasury. In the City Council of Torremolinos the abandonment of functions had been installed. We have come across work permit files that have been pending for more than four years. So we had to make quick, drastic decisions, launch some shock plans, such as in urban planning, in order to respond to the number of investors and citizens who did not understand what was happening.
In an urban key. How has the city progressed throughout this year in office?
We have achieved a tourism sustainability plan to rehabilitate and regenerate the heart of Torremolinos, which is La Nogalera, and it will mean that there will be a completely rehabilitated new Torremolinos. We, as I have said before, have had to put the files that arrived in order, the rates were settled by the investors and that died on the shore. In other words, we have found files that only had the self-assessment of the fees. They had not gone through the different departments to evaluate the different reports and be able to obtain the license and the license of an act that is mandatory.
We are working on the new plan, with which today the urban situation of the Torremolinos City Council is fully secure, both with respect to the new plan that we project with respect to the application, with which our investments and investors are guaranteed that From the Torremolinos City Council, everything they want to raise is absolutely under legal security and under legal reports.
What are the keys to this new Torremolinos?
Just to give you an idea… Yesterday we presented safe school routes because we already have a municipality with more than 50,000 inhabitants. We have a central area of low emissions for which we want to promote. Safe school roads, with an investment of nearly 600,000 euros, will allow schoolchildren to walk to their schools without close danger of vehicles. And now we have presented a project to install LED lights throughout the Torremolinos luminaire. We are going to drop from a consumption of almost 6 million kilowatts to 1.37 within a period of five months. So the savings will be 77%. Torremolinos needs to consolidate and we need at least eight years of changes with a new plan, with a development of urban regeneration areas that need it, with an improvement in mobility, with a bus station that does not exist in Torremolinos… because we are a destination sustainable tourism.
Speaking of investment. What role does the foreign investor play in the purchase of housing?
Man, obviously it’s very important. This year, in addition, we have recovered the figures for 2019 in a tourism key. Our international tourist, mainly the British, exceeds the national tourist. Well imagine how important it is. Fundamentally because the recovery of that British tourism has also been very important for us, because covid-19, Brexit and the instability of the British system greatly affected the Costa del Sol.
We are the closest municipality to the airport and our connections to the UK are with more than 20 cities. He is the main investor, but we have many other investors. We also have another neighborhood that is practically Dutch: La Carihuela. Investments, both in commerce and in residence, are very high on the part of French Dutch residents, Belgians are very important. For us it is very important because you also have to give a good foreign investor a plus when it comes to making an investment.
What tourist that you have not attracted so far would you like to seduce?
Our climate and our hotels, which are open practically all year round, mean that we can cover sectors such as Sports. We have magnificent sports facilities that allow clubs to visit us throughout the year, which is why sports tourism is important to us. We are also greatly promoting that innovative, cosmopolitan, cultural Torremolinos, with the creation of new spaces and new cultural brands. The LGTBI collective is also very important to us, not only for what it represents in the municipality, but also for what it represents in the arrival of travelers throughout the year.. We have a program of events that last throughout the year and that obviously have their peak in our Pride. In a few weeks we already have a carnival act, a drag queen gala that will attract the best on the national scene. This year the number of visitors has increased, but also the profitability of each visitor. We work every day to increase quality, of course.
What does the LGTBI collective represent and what are they going to do to continue promoting this type of tourism?
We have had a million visitors this year and it is possible that this group represents between 10% and 20% of the total. Together with all the representatives of the collective, we elaborate many of the activities, we help in the dissemination, in the promotion and we have it as something fixed in our tourist and cultural program. Torremolinos has become the favorite tourist destination for the LGTBI collective and we show ourselves as a proud municipality in each and every one of the things we do. We plan a year in advance each and every one of the activities. And I think that this is having a return that has even exceeded the best forecasts that the LGTBI business associations and groups had.
Could Torremolinos become a commuter town as it is so close to Malaga?
That is difficult because in Torremolinos we only have one problem and that is that we are tiny, we have 21 km2. Our urban developments, due to the size of our municipality, are limited. It is true that there are going to be new developments that are very, very focused on that type of upper-middle-class family worker who works within the urban conurbation of Malaga and who wants to live near the beach. And I think that this is going to be the focus, from what I have been able to see, of all future urban developments that will take place in Torremolinos.
Do you consider carrying out any special plan to keep the beaches clean?
The beaches are cleaned every day throughout the year. We cannot avoid that at some specific moments, due to tides, there is some type of dirt. But we do have some boats that do express cleaning and I can assure you that the beaches are very clean. On the part of the Junta de Andalucía, for many years their homework has not been done with respect to the comprehensive sanitation of the Costa del Sol. Fortunately, it has already opted for that. The purification of the waters of Torremolinos will already have a definitive solution with the construction of the WWTP North, which is already underway, projected, planned and with financing. So the purification of the water is not going to be a problem, although it is not currently.
Speaking of plans, what can you tell us about the security plan that you intend to activate in some Torremolinos neighborhoods?
Well, it is a plan that is carried out with the neighbors in areas where problems have been detected regardless of what the State Security Forces and Bodies can, which are usually the most serious behaviors. What we have done is make a plan tailored to the things that most concern the residents of the neighborhoods, from an establishment that sells minor alcoholic beverages to a problem with the high speed of traffic at a certain time. In short, the little things that are ultimately what worry you and for which the local police have made tailor-made plans in agreement with those neighbors.
Have you had squatting problems in Torremolinos?
We have a protocol and except at some specific moment, it is true that we have not had serious problems.
In Fitur, they presented themselves under the slogan ‘Infinite Summer’. Could you develop that slogan for us?
Well, Infinite Summer is that Torremolinos open 365 days a year. You can live any type of outdoor experience due to our climate, like in summer. That’s why ‘Infinite Summer’. To this ‘Infinite Summer’, as I have also told you before, we have added the possibility of practicing any type of sport during any time of the year. And we have also added a cultural commitment, especially in outdoor spaces. Having this climate, having hotels and establishments open throughout the year, means that Torremolinos is not one of these tourist cities that seems to be closed in January or December, right? Life goes on and on almost with the same force. We have had close to 70% hotel occupancy during the winter months, which means that it is a city that continues with the same activity.
Do you know how many homes are going to be built in Torremolinos in the coming years?
No, because the truth is that right now we have many projects that are about to start the tour by the City Council and as I have told you, in addition, a lot will also depend on what happens between the transition of the old plan or the new Plan, which is extended because it is in the Supreme Court. With the new Plan there will be a luxury housing offer in Torremolinos, I can tell you that. High quality homes, which have already begun with some developments.
Do you intend to promote luxury tourism in the city?
Definitely. The future developments that Torremolinos will have and this commitment to quality urbanizations will attract him. We are in a privileged environment, very close to the PTA, with a lot of qualified workers, with high salaries and very close, as I told you before, to the conurbation or part of the urban conurbation of Malaga. A horizon in which Malaga will continue to grow with that expo that we already have there, within reach of our hands in 2027. And Torremolinos is very close to all of this, which will produce a demand for this type of housing.
