The Generalitat has spent 151,424 euros in the last two years (2021-22) on the necessary modifications for the urban approval of the Hard Rock macro tourism and gaming complex, next to Port Aventura. The public investment, in 14 contracts with nine different companies, is due to the need to quickly change the urban planning of the Recreational and Tourist Center (CRT) of Vila-seca and Salou, adapting it to the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia ( TSJC) of 2020, according to Incasol sources.
The Aturem Hard Rock Platform has denounced today the payment this year of 39,960 euros by the Generalitat in reports and studies to be able to approve the urban planning of the future tourism and leisure macro complex. According to the entity, which opposes the project previously known as BCN World, the public disbursement by Incasol shows that Hard Rock is already costing the Government money. "He confirms the farce of the project and that it needs multiple modifications to be able to fit it in a place where it cannot be," says Eloi Redón, spokesperson for the Aturem Hard Rock Platform.
Some expenses that would be added to the 108,300 euros that the Generalitat already disbursed the previous year for similar studies. "All the contracts are for less than 15,000 euros, the legal limit to be able to assign them by finger without making them public," adds the Aturem Hard Rock Platform in a statement.
Incasol sources argue that the form of contracting (14 different contracts with nine companies) is due to the "urgency" of making the modifications to comply with the TSJC ruling. "The contracts are adjusted, both for the term and for the amount, to the Llei de Contractes", add the same sources.
The studies and reports refer to the modification of the urban master plan of Vila-seca and Salou, essential to be able to approve the macro project. For those opposed to the macro complex of tourism and gaming, the new spending of almost 40,000 euros "contrasts with the false statements made by President Aragonès who assured that not one public euro would be allocated to the Hard Rock project and the Minister of Territory, Juli Fernández, explaining that on the part of the Generalitat and the citizens this operation will not have any cost".
The Generalitat argues that "the Incasol will recover the current investment in the drafting of the modification required by the court ruling", since the expenses (151,424 euros) "will finally be assumed by the developer (Hard Rock) in the urban management phase" .
The Aturem Hard Rock Platform has made public a list of the alleged new works awarded and paid for by Incasol, a public body of the Generlitat. Among others, a contract of 11,500 euros for "the services of revision, updating of the graphic support, support for the informative writing and the planning memory for the modification of the urban master plan for the reorganization of the Recreational and Tourist Center (CRT), where it is located. planned to build the Hard Rock complex on the Costa Daurada.
In the list of reports and studies, awarded for amounts ranging from 5,760 euros to a maximum of 11,900, works also related to the mobility that the complex will generate, with a large hotel and a macro casino, among other facilities. Also a report on the economic sustainability of the project.
Finally, opponents of the Hard Rock maintain that "the 120 million euros for the purchase and sale of the land are at risk." They add that the contract "does not offer sufficient guarantees for Hard Rock to "pay in full or instantly."
The project is paralyzed, in the processing phase, waiting for the Generalitat to finally give the green light to the new urban planning of the Recreational and Tourist Center, where the macro complex is to be built. A ruling by the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) in favor of the Aturem Hard Rock Platform paralyzed its processing two years ago and forced it to make substantial changes.
