The following weeks will be crucial for Orlegi Sports’ “Asturias 2030” project, which has generated a profound debate in the city after LA NUEVA ESPAÑA revealed some of the sketches presented by the Mexican group to sports organizations last week. The owners of Sporting hope to take steps as soon as possible to start the urban procedures that will allow them to carry out their plan, a process that experts set for a year and a half. As minimum.
Orlegi plans to hold a meeting in the coming days (there is still no fixed date) with all the municipal groups, who, for the moment, are waiting to position themselves to better understand the ins and outs of such an ambitious plan. He is especially concerned about how the financing would be to reach those 300 million that would cost, according to the first reports, the entire work.
The rojiblanca directive, in addition, wants to put its project on the Urban Planning table as soon as possible. Until the first quarter of 2024, in any case, it will not be known whether El Molinón will host the 2030 World Cup or not. But the works in the stadium and its surroundings are very powerful and could take several years. And, for his transforming plan to go ahead, it is essential that the municipal plenary approves the modification of the PGO.
This regulatory change is needed for the demolition and reconstruction of El Molinón, to create an underground car park, a green area of 25,000 square meters and for the construction of two large towers. It is a process that, according to the specialists, will be complex. “Reforming the PGO would imply a minimum year and a half before work can begin,” say different experts. The current political uncertainty that the city is experiencing, with elections in May 2023, does not help speed up the movements.
The next step for the Mexican group is to take their plans to the City Council. Accumulate weeks of hard work to outline all the details. They believe that the project is very ambitious and is based, above all, on two pillars: long-term sustainability and economic performance. The stadium is intended to be alive all week with different commercial areas, and not only on match days. Orlegi believes that this project would have a “Guggenheim effect” for Gijón. “It would mean something similar to what the Guggenheim meant at the time in Bilbao. It will be an economic pole for the city,” explain actors involved in the project. Once presented to the political parties of the current corporation, the Mexican group will take its plan to the Department of Urban Planning.
The new owners of the Sporting must present the model with the project in view of the need to reform the current General Planning Plan (PGO), approved in January 2019. An evaluation of the environmental impact of the work planned by the architect Sordo will also be required. Madeleine. David Guerra, executive president of Sporting, will lead several of these meetings.
The process, which consists of several phases, will begin with the confirmation of that long-awaited meeting with the Urban Planning area, where the presence of Dolores Patón, the councilor, and Gonzalo Canga, general director, are expected. If the City Council accepts, “Asturias 2030” would then enter a slow bureaucratic phase, full of paperwork, which will take several months: reports from municipal technicians, the Urban Planning Commission, allegations… Thus, until the project reaches full for your initial approval. And, later, to the commission of Town Planning and Planning of the Principality of Asturias (FEE). Finally, it must also be validated by the municipal groups in a second plenary session. There is no set date to start operating, although the idea of doing it in 2025 is being worked on so that the work is finished months before the start of the World Cup (2030). Everything will depend on how the process progresses with the PGO, of course. But, above all, that the Iberian Candidacy, the great favorite, hosts the World Cup, confirming that El Molinón is the venue. That will be known in the first quarter of 2024. Until then, there would be no certainty about what would happen to Alejandro Irarragorri’s megaproject, who sees this plan as a fundamental pillar.
The work that Orlegi has in mind is complex, full of questions. Because it would be the City Council who, as owner of the field, would have to authorize the demolition of El Molinón and commission the work. Also because it has to reach several agreements: with the current concessionaire of the ground floor, the owners of the private plots where it is intended to build two large towers… “The project is as powerful as it is complex,” says a specialist in urban planning.
