Green light for a project of almost 12 square kilometers with thousands of hotel beds, a golf course and water parks in a Biosphere Reserve
In a remote area of Badajoz, next to the town of Castilblanco, hardly frequented by tourism, everything is ready to start the construction of a new large leisure park. Is about Elysium City, a macro urban and tourist project where everything is superlativefrom the investment of 8,000 million euros to the surface that will occupy almost 12 square kilometers, of which half will be buildable.
The figures leave no doubt about the gigantic dimensions of the project: 18,000 hotel beds, 2,000 residential homes, golf course, casinos, football stadium for 40,000 spectators, water parks, shops, train station… and all of this nestled on the shores of the García de Sola reservoir, an area of great natural beauty. Elysium has already been compared to ‘Eurovegas’ from Extremadura due to the parallels it maintains with the frustrated Madrid project.
The Junta de Extremadura has supported this initiative at all times and has granted the corresponding environmental impact authorizations. A few months ago it was the Castilblanco Town Hall that finally granted the building permitwith which the administrative process has been completed.
The company defends the rigor of the project
The company behind the project, Castilblanco Elysium Corporation, highlighted in a statement that this leisure park is “a success story& rdquor;, for having overcome “a rigorous and complex administrative procedure & rdquor;. “This project aims to open endless possibilities for employment, growth and opportunities for the region,” explains its main promoter, Francisco Nuchera, in the note.
The company assures that through its million-dollar investment it will generate up to 56,000 direct and indirect jobs, “without a doubt news that will transform Castilblanco and all of Extremadura& rdquor ;.
The town council, just as enthusiastic as the promoter, affirms that the park “It is already an unstoppable and tangible reality, a historic milestone for Castilblanco& rdquor;as stated by the government team led by the mayoress María Ángeles Merino (PP).
The Board chaired by Guillermo Fernández Vara, from the PSOE, approved in July 2018 the so-called Extremadura Law on Large Leisure Facilities, which precisely protected and promoted this type of business.
In the heart of the Biosphere Reserve
However, concern for the environmental impact that such a gigantic initiative will have worries conservationists in the region. The land is included in the La Siberia Biosphere Reserve, but the promoters emphasize that said qualification is not incompatible with the development of the planned works. “In no case is it built in a ZEPA (Special Protection Area for Birds) area,” they recall.
Ecologistas en Acción and Adenex, two of the large environmental entities in Extremadura, have considered it totally “unsustainable& rdquor; the city of Elysium. In allegations presented to the project at the time, both entities indicated that the natural resources of Castilblanco “will be compromised and under serious threat& rdquor ;.
Ecologists in Action alludes to “multiple points of conflict & rdquor ;, such as changes in the project and fragmentation of its surface to evade state powers in its authorization.
In addition, it affirms that the promoter itself “acknowledges several non-compliance with the regulations in the annexes of the documentation presented, stating that the presentation of the environmental studies will be carried out later & rdquor ;.
“Noise, light pollution and waste of water& rdquor;
The city Elysium will increase “considerably & rdquor; ambient noise levels during the years of construction and during the subsequent operation of the facilities, add the environmental claims.
The noise that this leisure park will generate “will significantly worsen the habitats of the occupied territory”, but, in addition, there will also be a problem of light pollution, due to the excess light emitted by the planned constructions.
Light pollution “will be at least ten times greater than that of Marina de Valdecañas& rdquor;another controversial project in this autonomous community.
They also allude to “wasting water & rdquor; derived from water parks, golf courses and constructions accommodation provided in the complex.
Specifically, a consumption of 200 liters per person per day is expected, when the average consumption for residential use in Spain is 142 liters in Europe, 128, which constitutes “a waste of water, if we consider the context of scarcity of water resources of the Peninsula and, in particular, in the Guadiana Hydrographic Basin& rdquor;.
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