The never ending story of City of Justice of Madrid It will close a new chapter on May 28, when a new legislature has ended without a single stone being seen. Sources from the project environment consulted by La Información assume that the open negotiation with ACS and Acciona, without publicity and under private conversations, will not be closed before the municipal electionsand therefore it will remain in the hands of the next regional government that comes out of the polls, and that according to the polls it seems that it will continue in the hands of Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
The fourth attempt of the Popular Party of Madrid to carry out the project to unify the judicial headquarters in the Valdebebas neighborhood began in January, when, after the public tender to build and operate the City of Justice for 40 years, the Government de Ayuso opted for start a private negotiation with ten large construction companies: Aldesa, FCC, OHLA, Rover Group, Sacyr, Dragados, Azvi, Ferrovial, Infrastructure Concessions, Iridium (ACS) and Acciona.
Only the last two, directed by Florentino Pérez and José Manuel Entrecanales, responded favorably to starting talks with the Madrid Executive in order to obtain the 2,547.3 million euros that were available in the previous tender in exchange for lifting the judicial headquarters. and they did associating in a consortium and in exchange for new demands to the Community of Madrid that have not been disclosed.
Ayuso’s plans went through award this work in April, but both sources from the Ministry of the Presidency, in charge of the project, and from the business environment of the project take it for granted that it will not be resolved before the elections. The times of the administrative procedure necessary to grant the work are in the hands of six officials that make up the Contracting Board of the Ministry, a independent body with its own deadlines. “The political part has been neat,” they defend from the president’s environment.
These officials are, according to the Community of Madrid, the responsible for assessing the administrative documentation required in the specifications. They must state that the companies meet the required solvency, that the technical aspects are in line with the award criteria and the economic proposal. The negotiation is based on an initial offer presented by ACS and Acciona, and from there modifications are agreed, both financially and in the requirements of the project.
Fourth attempt to get it out
The history of the City of Justice is, so far, the Neverending Story. Conceived as the largest judicial infrastructure in southern Europe, its objective is to group the 28 judicial offices in Madrid in a single complex located in the PAU of Valdebebas, to the north of the capital. It was designed by Esperanza Aguirre in 2004 and Ignacio González tried to revive it in 2015, without success. After being discarded in the brief government of Cristina Cifuentes, resurfaced again at the hands of Díaz Ayuso. The forecasts set at 33,000 people a day that would make use of the 17 buildings to be erected, which should be ready in the second half of 2027.
On his last try, Ayuso launched the tender in the middle of August, with no more publicity than what is strictly necessary and valuing the participation of architects who prove they have signed a project valued at a minimum of 150 million euros. The College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) was the only entity that appealed the project, alleging breaches of the new Architecture Law, but the Administrative Court of Public Contracting rejected the appeal and went ahead with the tender, which was not completed introducing nobody.
The formula proposed then was based on the concession modelso that the private sector would build the complex in five years and would manage and operate it for another 35. The concessionaire would be in charge of investing 507.5 million at first to erect the buildings within four years, and subsequently keep them until 2062, when they would revert to the regional patrimony.
During this time, the Community of Madrid would have to pay 2,547 million, about 70 per year from the completion and reception of the work; to which would be added another 324 million from the exploitation of auxiliary buildings (offices, public parking, sports center, cafeterias, nursery school or premises) throughout the period, a figure that brings the business to 2,872 million. But the construction companies did not see it viable due to the rise in prices personnel, materials and interest rates, and left the contest void. The first stone was ready by May 2023, a milestone that no one considers likely at this point.
