How a plane-less airport spent 30 million euros on ads

Public firm continued publicity spend despite doubts over Castellón’s future; massive statue of former provincial chief goes ahead

LORENA ORTEGA – Castellón – 08/01/2012

Over 30 million euros have been spent advertising Castellón’s airport, which is not yet operational and faces an extremely uncertain future after the regional government rescinded its agreement with the contractor that was supposed to run it.

This expense, undertaken in 2003 when the construction project got underway, was repeatedly criticized by Sindicatura de Comptes – the Valencian Audit Office – which noted that all agreements were being signed “without accrediting the need for the expense nor determining the price of the contract,” and without analyzing the possible benefits for the airport itself, which is located in Castellón province, in the northern portion of the Valencian region.

The news comes shortly after the Valencian government had to be helped out by Madrid authorities to ensure it would not default on a maturing loan of 123 million euros owed to Deutsche Bank. The move underscored the liquidity problems of the most indebted of Spain’s 17 semi-autonomous regions, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 19.9 percent.

To many people, the “airport without airplanes” has come to symbolize the wastefulness of Valencian officials in recent years, when the real-estate bubble fueled a series of oversize projects of questionable economic value.

Since then, there has been a steady trickle of cases of money squandering by Valencia’s public agencies, including Emarsa, a water treatment plant that was allegedly used by its managers to divert millions of euros to their own accounts. In this case, it was also a public company, Aeropuerto de Castellón SL (Aerocas), which made the decision to spend over 30 million euros in sponsorships, fairs and advertising events even though it was always unclear whether the airport would ever become profitable or even operational, given that the nearby provinces of Valencia and Alicante already have their own airports.

Despite the uncertainty, Aerocas sponsored sports teams such as first-division Villarreal CF, whose soccer players bore the logo of Castellón Airport on their shirts for three straight seasons in exchange for 2.35 million euros. The sponsorship was later extended to another soccer team, CD Castellón.

Aerocas admitted it cannot determine what the economic return on its investment will be, and instead talks about “an assumed risk.” Until now, managers held that the airport had to make itself known in order to attract tourists and secure agreements with the airlines. This last job was going to be carried out by the contractor with whom the regional government has just broken its deal.

Last week, the chief of Castellón province, Javier Moliner, announced that this year the airport would not be advertised at Fitur, a major tourism fair in Madrid, because “we need to promote what we have and not what we’re going to have.”

As a matter of fact, the future of Aerocas itself is up in the air after regional authorities said it would be merged into a holding to reduce public spending. Since its creation, Aerocas has doubled its personnel expense, which went up from 148,115 euros a year for three employees to the current 382,216 euros a year for a staff of seven.

In the meantime, Aerocas is continuing to build a 20-ton, 25-meter-high sculpture at the airport entrance at a cost of 300,000 euros. According to its creator, Juan García Ripollés, the inspiration for this statue is the man who masterminded the airport project in the first place: Carlos Fabra, the provincial premier of Castellón for the last 16 years who stepped down last June. Fabra, of the Popular Party (PP), is being investigated for tax fraud, influence peddling and bribery of public officials.

via How a plane-less airport spent 30 million euros on ads · ELPAÍS.com in English.

Submariners up scope

Villarreal targets Europa League glory after Twente thrashing

ROB TRAIN – Madrid – 08/04/2011

It’s been a pretty decent week for Portugal and Spain, in matters non-fiscal at least. The Iberian Peninsula might be teetering on the brink of monetary oblivion but its soccer teams are in a rich vein of form in both of Europe’s club competitions.

After Barcelona and Real Madrid had all but secured their places in a Champions League semifinal against each other with resounding triumphs earlier in the week, Villarreal, Benfica and Porto all took a bold step toward a possible all-Iberian last four in the Europa League.

Villarreal, which thrashed Dutch league leader FC Twente 5-1, will likely meet Porto in the semifinals after the freshly crowned Portuguese champion crushed Spartak Moscow by the same margin. “We still have the return leg but we have taken a big step forward,” said Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido. “There is still another game in which we will clearly be favorite, but it still has to be played,” he added, echoing a sentiment reverberating around the peninsula.

Benfica added to a punishing evening for the Eredivisie by slotting four past PSV Eindhoven, with the Dutch giant pulling one back late on to give it a glimmer of hope for the return leg. Sporting Braga- whose European campaign started with a first appearance in the Champions League group stage and has led it to a first-ever European quarterfinal- still has some work to do after a 1-1 tie with Dynamo Kiev. But Braga will have home field advantage and Andriy Schevkenko’s absence through suspension working in its favor next week.

For Villarreal, a Champions League semifinalist in 2006, the Europa League represents a real chance to deliver a first piece of significant silverware to a club that, incredibly, has only spent a little over 10 years in Spain’s Primera División. “It’s the only thing we can win, we have to go for it,” said World Cup winner Joan Capdevila. “I really want to win something with Villarreal, although nothing is easy in Europe.”

Winning the Europa League would certainly be a great achievement for a team that plays in a town whose population would only fill its stadium twice. But on the domestic front Villarreal has important business afoot: a trip to Mestalla on Sunday for a Valencia region derby. Villarreal sits in fourth place, three points behind Valencia and nine ahead of its nearest challenger for the a place at Europe’s top table next season, Athletic Bilbao.

With The Lions to be thrown to Cristiano et al on Saturday, any number of points Villarreal can escape Mestalla with will likely widen that gap further.

via Submariners up scope · ELPAÍS.com in English.