The Urban Planning councillor, Marcos Ruiz, has visited the two projects the company Otero has in Manilva to check first-hand the situation they are in. The councillor stated: «Since we learned that the company Otero had not met the payments it had planned to make to its suppliers, we have been monitoring the situation daily and following the evolution of this problem, including several inspections in which an official record was drawn up stating that the works are at a standstill, especially as regards public works on the roads and facilities that the Town Hall has to receive in order to provide services to these two Otero projects in our town, and for which the Town Hall holds guarantees to be able to complete them and make this area habitable, where there are many people affected».
There are two projects: one in La Paloma with 25 high-end homes, and another in the Don Amaro area in El Goleto, with more than 40 homes, most of them completed or under construction and at a fairly advanced stage of works. Both the local suppliers, who have seen that their payments have not been made and have found themselves facing this debt generated by the company Otero, and the owners of those homes have the Town Hall working side by side with them and fully at their disposal so that, within municipal means, the problem caused by the company, which has suspended payments and is unable to meet them, can be minimised.
The Urban Planning department has sent a formal request to the developers asking them to clarify as soon as possible the current state of progress, the reason why the works have stopped and the expected completion date, especially bearing in mind that, for this reason, one of the roads in the sector is currently impassable and a delay in completing that development would cause unnecessary inconvenience to residents.
Otero is a leading company in the luxury housing sector in the province of Málaga, with its main activity on the Costa del Sol, with a turnover of more than 500 million euros in 2022. It also has projects in Estepona, Marbella and Málaga, as well as in the Cádiz area, and was a company with the best references that, until a few days ago, generated 100 direct jobs in our town.
Otero set up in Manilva during the previous term of office, when the Urban Planning area was run by Izquierda Unida, who, with their manager at the helm, launched this project, which had every indication and all the favourable reports needed to carry out these projects and generate wealth.
Ruiz expressed surprise that this important matter was aired on Izquierda Unida’s social media rather than debated at the ordinary council meeting held yesterday. «They have used half-truths, errors and some blatant lies, trying to implicate the Urban Planning department and the Town Hall in this problem that Otero has had, which, let us remember, and they know perfectly well, has been a nationwide problem for a leading company that has suspended its payments on all the projects it had. I believe the last thing all those affected, many people who are going through a difficult time, deserve is populism and sensationalist politics», he said.
