Businesses worried about high price of industrial land

BALEARIC businesspeople are worried about the rising price of industrial land which the islands have experienced over the last few years.
In the most extreme cases it has reached 2'400 euros per square metre (3'000 if it is for offices), prices which they consider to be “madness”.
These statements were made by the director of the Majorcan Association of Industrial Unions (ASIMA), Alejandro Saenz, who is participating in a project to analyse the industrial land situation in Spain. The project is expected to be finished at the end of the year. Saenz explained that its objective is to take a current “snapshot” of the situation in the industrial estates on the islands, which have grown in a very uncoordinated way during the last few years and whose exact area is still not known. This will make it very complicated to find out what the needs of the various sectors which use them are. With regard to this, Saenz said that the 34 industrial estates on the islands (of which ASIMA has studied 27 to date) occupy a total of 1'600 hectares, of which 70 or 80 percent have been built on. There are another 17 which are in various stages of development. “We want to know what the actual situation is with regard to industrial land on the Balearics”, explained Alejandro Saenz, “to determine how it needs to develop in the future, based on industrial and commercial needs”, and in this respect he revealed that the first conclusions were that “we are seeing here that industrial land is scarce and very expensive”. In fact, the director of ASIMA said that “the prices which are being asked here are preposterous” adding that there had been cases of industrial companies on the mainland wanting to open a branch on the islands and “were amazed when they were told the prices”. In Saenz's opinion industrial land “is growing in value”, especially in Palma's industrial estates, which account for half of the industrial estates which exist on the islands, such as Son Rossinyol, Son Valenti, Can Valero and Son Castello, where a square metre of warehouse costs between 1'700 and 2'400 euros which, in the case of Son Castello, is likely to rise even further after the opening of the metro in Palma. To this must be added the prices of newly constructed offices (which is also increasing rapidly in Son Castello) which is between 2'000 and 3'000 euros per square metre, another price which he considers “absurd” and which is still rising. On the other hand, Saenz said that he regretted the fact that activity on the industrial estates had diversified during the last few years.