Paramount land set to be reclassified as agricultural

It’s Paramount or nothing for the Alhama de Murcia Mayor

Diego Conesa, the Mayor of Alhama de Murcia, has reiterated again that if the seemingly doomed Paramount theme park project in the municipality does not go ahead then the land on which it was to be built, which was acquired at a cost of 15 million euros, will once again be designated as being for agricultural use only.

Following the failure of the Paramount project and Premursa (the management company appointed by the regional government) to attract any private investment in the venture, there has been speculation that alternative residential development projects might be considered. However, Sr Conesa has effectively ruled that option out with his categorical refusal to contemplate the idea.

The blame for this decision can in one sense be attributed to the regional government, and indeed Sr Conesa bemoans the apparent lack of interest in the government in approving new legislation which would make the re-classification of the land possible. A previous law modifying the boundaries of the regional park of Sierra de Carrascoy was annulled by the Constitutional Court in 2012, meaning that part of the Paramount project was on protected land.

It is reported in the regional press that senior staff at Premursa also hold the government responsible for failing to ensure that the Paramount project went ahead as planned.

In reality, though, the reason for the much-vaunted Paramount park in Alhama de Murcia stalling so badly is that no-one has managed to persuade investors that it is a viable proposition. 

According to the first predictions the Paramount Park and Lifestyle Center would have been open this year. Now, though, it seems that the London Paramount Entertainment Resort on the Kent side of the Thames will open a long time before visitors flock to the Alhama Paramount Park in their droves, if indeed they ever do, and that fruit trees, vines and artichokes could soon be re-planted on the plots of land in the shadow of the Sierra de Carrascoy.

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