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La Voz de Madrid

San Blas Aquatic Center project reopens Olympic spending debate

The initiative to transform the unfinished complex into a leisure and sports venue revives the controversy over the almost 100 million euros of public funds invested unsuccessfully.

Image of an unfinished concrete structure, with scaffolding and exposed rebar, under a blue sky.
IA

Image of an unfinished concrete structure, with scaffolding and exposed rebar, under a blue sky.

The Madrid City Council has unveiled a new project for the San Blas Aquatic Center, an unfinished infrastructure that incurred nearly 100 million euros in public funds during the city's failed Olympic bid.

This week, the mayor of Madrid presented plans for the San Blas Aquatic Center, which will be transformed into a venue for large concerts, a sports center, and a campus for a private university. The management of this complex, located on municipal land, will be carried out through a 75-year private concession by companies such as OVG and Live Nation, in collaboration with representatives from Atlético de Madrid.
The original Aquatic Center project, promoted by the city council during Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón's tenure, involved an investment of at least 99.6 million euros in a structure that was never completed. Construction was abandoned in 2010, leaving a useless framework that still had 91 million euros in pending investments.
The presentation of the new project has avoided addressing the significant public funds squandered on this infrastructure. The situation has drawn criticism for not acknowledging the waste of money on a project that, according to some, socializes the losses of the Olympic failure and hands over the infrastructure to private companies for exploitation until the year 2101.
The Aquatic Center serves as a reminder of a period when Madrid aimed to build Olympic infrastructure without having secured the Games, following a model of high public spending and private benefits, particularly for construction companies like Ortiz and Dragados, who were the only ones paid for the unfinished work. Furthermore, the project has faced legal challenges, with an adverse ruling that, for now, has removed the planned luxury hotel from the site.

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