Paramount Murcia

Officially, the latest statement by any representative of the regional government of Murcia is that construction work for the Paramount Pictures Theme Park will commence on February 28th.

The Regional Minister for Culture, Pedro Alberto Cruz, originally announced that work was to commence on the 15th of January , however this deadline was extended by 6 weeks to allow time for the Ayuntamiento of Alhama de Murcia to approve changes to the project.

Changes to the original footprint of the park had to be submitted after it was revealed that around 325'000sq mts of the land originally earmarked for the park fell in a protected area of a neighbouring natural park.

However today, as was perhaps to be expected, the Mayor of Alhama de Murcia announced that approval was not likely to be granted for a further few weeks.Under normal circumstances this would not have been an issue however the original footprint had already been reduced by some 30% following problems obtaining all of the land in February 2012.

Apparently it came as some shock to those involved with the project that the land carried the "protected "status, as it had only been in place for around 50 years....

Needless to say, construction at the Paramount Murcia theme park will not be commencing has planned on the 28th. You never thought that it would though - did you ?

The official website of the Ayuntamiento of Alhama de Murcia - location of the Paramount Pictures theme park project - have announced how Mayor Alfonso Ceron Fernando Morales has received an award from the Regional Minister of Works and Planning.

Minister Antonio Sevilla made the 'Quality and Construction' award last week at the fifth annual award ceremony, organized by the Ministry in collaboration with the Association of Surveyors, Architects Technicians and building engineers for the Region of Murcia, the Regional Federation of Construction Entrepreneurs of Murcia (Frecom) and Cajamurcia.

The Mayor of Alhama, who collected the award on behalf of all alhameños, highlighted the work done at the time by different workers Consistory which has resulted in the award collected.

A number of regional Politicians - notably the Minister for Tourism and Culture, Pedro Alberto Cruz - have issued various deadlines in previous months for when construction would commence. The latest such guarantee is that work will begin on the 28th of February, and the lack of any announcement to the contrary can only lead the public to believe that - officially at least - this is still the case ? Whilst busy congratulating themselves on the construction - that has yet to take place in the case of the Paramount theme park - the fact of the rapidly approaching deadline for the start of construction was glossed over.

Furthermore, the official company website of the promoter and developer of the Park - Proyectos Emblemáticos Murcianos SA (Premursa) - has been at pains not to update their news and press release section since August 2012. At least they can be excused of not lying to anybody that way.