22/07/2012 00:00
TW
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Palma.—With the giant project already in debt of around 70 million euros, Palma City Council and the Balearic government have been struggling since work began on the project to secure a company to manage the concession, which also includes a five star hotel, but it appears that the authorities have failed again and yesterday, the order was given to down tools indefinitely. To date, only one company, the world leading global Majorcan hotel chain Meliá Hotels International, had been the only company to come forward with a bid and that was accepted a few weeks ago.

Three quarters
However it appears that Meliá finally came back with an offer below what the authorities had wanted and were therefore yesterday without any company interested in taking on the running of the convention centre and therefore were left with no choice but to halt any further work on the building which is only nearly three quarters completed. Yesterday, the Palma City Council for Tourism, Alvaro Gijon, explained that after this latest low and unique bid, the council and the local government can no longer continue to shoulder the financial burden of the project. “We've done what we've had to do. We've acted in the best interest of the local population, but, we are not giving up on the project because it will be good for Palma, Majorca and the Balearics,” he said.

Of the 70 million euros in debt, 38 million have been accounted for but the council and the government has another 32 million outstanding. The Balearic Minister for Tourism, Carlos Delgado, said that they can not afford to continue running up a massive debt on the project under the current economic climate.” International bids
However, according to Gijon, a great deal of interest has been shown by international hotel chains and the council will now set about revising the bids received from overseas to see if any meet the requisites.

During the previous Socialist-led government, a sizable bid was made by one of the United States' largest hotel chains, but it was rejected.