Visitors Now:
Total Visits:
Total Stories:
Profile image
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

Valencia: the ghost city that’s become a symbol of Spain’s spending woes

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 7:01
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

The Telegraph -

Valencia’s extravagant spending over the past few years epitomises all that has gone wrong with Spain.

The gleaming metal-clad airport terminal has yet to have a single passenger pass through its doors. Weeds are poking up through the 3,000 yards of virgin runway and above it a shiny new air traffic control centre towers over fruit and olive groves.

This is Castellon Airport in Spain’s eastern Valencia region. Eighteen months after it was inaugurated with a price tag of 150 million euros (£130  million) and with no prospect of a commercial flight, it has come to epitomise the vast public overspend that has brought Spain to the brink of seeking a full bailout from Europe.

Over the past decade, the Mediterranean region of Valencia became the beacon of Spain’s new economic grandeur, gorging on cheap credit to embark on vastly extravagant projects. But as the central government announced on Thursday its fifth round of budget cuts and tax increases in just nine months, this region also symbolises all that has gone wrong in the country.

Everywhere you look, there are examples of these expensive white elephants that have left Valencia one of the most indebted regions in Spain and the first to go cap-in-hand to Madrid.

An hour south of Spain’s newest airport is the city of Valencia, the region’s capital, where protests have become an almost daily occurrence. A Formula One racing circuit snakes through the streets, hoping to emulate the more glamorous circuit in Monaco. From 2008 to 2012, it hosted the European Grand Prix, for which F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone was paid 20 million euros annually from City Hall coffers. The grand prix has now been dropped from the 2013 season.

Read More: telegraph.co.uk

2012-10-02 06:48:56

Source: http://www.oneworldchronicle.com/?p=6330



Source:

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.