Business owners warn that lack of land for offices and factories could hold back progress in capital of Costa del Sol

Cristina Vallejo

Malaga

Monday, 12 May 2025, 23:40

The confederation of employers of Malaga (CEM) has defined another condition for prosperity to continue in the province: the opening up of more productive land, that is, more land to set up factories, offices or logistics platforms. This was stated last Friday by the executive vice-president of the CEM, Natalia Sánchez, during the presentation of the socioeconomic report of the province of Malaga and the proposals for business competitiveness for 2024 and 2025.

"We are talking about spatial planning and we know that these plans are very long-term. It is true that Malaga is growing well above average and much faster than other areas, so we are looking for a certain flexibility in terms of land availability," said Sánchez. She also warned that the Costa del Sol capital already has very little space and that the area designated for expansion - the Guadalhorce - is a flood-prone area. In her push to develop a metropolitan area around Malaga and to ensure that all types of plans, including industrial ones, take into account the city and its neighbouring municipalities as a single unit, she stressed that for the development of productive land, another key condition must be met: investment in mobility must materialise, so that reaching new workspaces does not become a problem.

"The availability of productive, industrial, logistics and office land is key to our growth and to attracting investment. The metropolitan approach is increasingly relevant. We have to offer spaces where we can locate companies that need more space, but that are also well-connected," she added. The issue of company size is something that concerns CEM, alongside density and diversification by sector.

Sánchez also said that when it comes to developing industrial land, both coastal and inland territories should be taken into account. "There are municipalities, which are positioning themselves so well that their business parks receive investment. We can all take Humilladero as a recent reference, but just yesterday we were talking to the mayor of Almogía - a municipality in the Guadalhorce area with very interesting investments and business projects that certainly require a lot of space to develop."

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The problem lies in that Malaga has a "short supply of land", which leads to high prices and makes it difficult for it to be a really attractive area for investment. "We don't want this to happen in our province, we want to continue being a place for developing business activity," said Sánchez.

Sánchez added that it is difficult to not only find offices at reasonable prices, but to also locate spaces of 3,000 square metres, especially in Malaga city and Marbella. "We will have to be creative, as it is not just a question of providing land - we have to see what solutions can be found so that we continue being a competitive destination," insisted CEM's executive vice-president.

Sánchez also outlined the "shortcomings" suffered by business spaces: scarcity, access, parking, sanitation and technological networks.

"If the pending infrastructures are put in place, if mobility problems are resolved, if all housing issues are tackled rigorously, seriously and without partisan bias, if productive land is also put in place in the best possible way and if we are able to break the gap with the demands of the labour market, the social cohesion of the province of Malaga will continue to be extraordinary and will have a great future," said CEM president Javier Gonzáles de Lara. "The business world is doing its part. We ask the public sector and the public administrations, to also do theirs."

CEM also analysed the economic state of the province, which experience a "favourable development" and a growth of 3.7% in 2024. The increase is higher than the average for Andalucía, Spain and Europe. Malaga accounts for four out of every ten new Andalusian companies. The province is also the seventh in Spain in terms of state tax collection, with special focus on companies and VAT. It was the second Spanish province, after Barcelona, in which unemployment fell the most in 2024.

The CEM forecasts for this year expect "more subdued" growth than, placing the expansion of Malaga's economy at 2.8%. Despite the slowdown, the figure is still higher than the Andalusian, Spanish and European averages, although with uncertainty. "We are facing an economic, political and global context of maximum tension," said Natalia Sánchez, alluding to the tariff conflict that could lead to more inflation, higher rates and less investment, as well as the breakdown of multilateralism.