The technical committee has been appointed to ensure compliance with the APR-7 agreement signed by the City Council and property owners

Benidorm City Council continues to take administrative steps to comply with ruling 343/2024 of the High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) regarding the land within the APR-7 protected area of ​​Serra Gelada.

After the Administrative Court No. 3 of Alicante ratified the out-of-court settlement reached between the City Council and the landowners on March 18, the members of the monitoring committee responsible for ensuring compliance with the agreement signed by both parties have been appointed.

At a meeting of the Spokespersons' Committee convened today by Mayor Toni Pérez, the council groups were informed of the decree appointing the representatives of each party and approving the composition of the committee.

As the mayor emphasised, “this is a 100% technical committee,” and its members will include, as representatives of the City Council, the municipal secretary and auditor, and a lawyer from the Legal Department. Two representatives have been appointed on behalf of the landowners.

As stipulated in the agreement reached between the City Council and the landowners, the Collaboration Agreement Monitoring Committee will meet at least once every six months.

Content of the agreement

As the mayor detailed in a press conference weeks ago, to cover the payment of €283 million plus legal interest as established by the High Court of Justice, the agreement includes a two-pronged payment method: cash and land.

Regarding the cash payment, an initial payment of €60 million is planned before December 31, 2026. Following this, a grace period for principal payments will begin until December 31, 2030, during which the City Council may choose to amortise part of the principal.

Starting January 1, 2031, the City Council will begin its mandatory amortisation period, committing to annually amortise the principal of the debt, plus the corresponding interest, by paying the landowners an annual sum, until the debt is fully repaid. This sum will be no less than 8% of the ordinary current revenue projected in the municipal budget's revenue statement for each fiscal year.

Regarding payment through the transfer of land, the agreement also includes two forms of payment in kind. One is intended to cover the interest accrued up to the date the agreement is signed, and this option is mandatory for the landowners to accept and acquire. In other words, the proposal is to pay a sum of €67,386,655.89, to be disbursed by the City Council over a period of 5 years, through land transfers instead of payment. These transfers will involve land with development potential directly amenable to urban development, specifically urban land that qualifies as immediately buildable plots, free of any urbanisation charges.

These proposed transfers, instead of payment, must be accepted by the landowners. The City Council specifies that the land will be located within the urban development areas of Sector PP2/1, Sector Murtal 2, PP Ensanche Levante, PAU 1, and/or any other land designated as buildable plots for multi-family residential use that is not currently included as such in the 1990 General Urban Development Plan (PGOU). The exchange value of the development potential cannot exceed the fair market value, as established by law. In other words, based on the municipal proposal, the property owner would be obligated to pay almost €70,000,000 in land over five years at market value (fair price), with valuations updated at the time of the offer by the City Council, thus adhering to the real and current value of the land at any given time.

In addition to this in-kind payment of the corresponding interest amount, the municipal agreement also proposes the possibility of successive debt-for-equity swaps to reduce the debt (principal plus interest accrued after January 1, 2027), through the agreed-upon transfer of municipally owned land. In this case, unlike the previous proposal, acceptance by the property owner would not be mandatory.