Private investors seen as salvation for Playa de Palma

But Isern said that this year, the Balearic government would not be able to undertake any projects in the reform programme which has slowed to a snail's pace due to lack of promised funding from Central Government.

Adaptation
Isern said that State funding for the Playa de Palma overhaul, which was to be one of Spain's five key tourist resort renovation schemes, was agreed during the term of office of the previous Socialist coalition. The Playa de Palma Reform Board had been set up to manage funding and control renovation and redevelopment.

But the economic crisis meant that despite Central Government acknowledging the money it owed, there was little sign of the agreed millions of euros making its way from Madrid to Palma. “Disbanding the Playa de Palma Reform Board is not an option,” said Isern, explaining that due to the tight financial circumstances facing municipal authorities, every effort will have to be made to encourage and collaborate with private companies.

However critics of the use of private enterprise in the Playa de Palma Reform project have said that “it is natural that private companies will look primarily for their own interests and it will therefore be harder to get them to collaborate in a reform programme that encompasses an entire resort.”