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GOLF DECREE APPROVED

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:38:34 +0000

The Junta de Andalucia has approved the long awaited Golf Decree which bans the use of drinking water for irrigating on golf courses in the region. Only recycled water can be used. The Decree will become law next month after its publication in the Official Bulletin, and existing courses will have two years to bring their facilities in line with the new regulations. The decree also puts a stop to projects that link housing developments to golf courses, unless the course is seen to be of tourist interest. In that case, a technical commission would have to approve the project which would then go to the regional government for final approval. Los Verdes (Greens) party condemned the exception, saying it "leaves the cat flap open" for unsustainable property speculation. To stress their point, they gave Junta de Andalucia president Manuel Chaves a mini-golf set so that he could play golf at home un his garden "without turning Andalucia into one massive green", a party spokesman said.

TAX PAYERS NEW FOUND HONESTY

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:22:08 +0000

Just under 35% of tax payers who had previously hidden or lied about their earnings came clean when they filed their tax returns last year, bringing an extra 1.48 billion euros into the government's coffers. A Finance Ministry spokesman said the reason for their new-found honesty was the tax fraud prevention plan which has been in place since 2004, bringing in a total of 19 billion euros that was previously undeclared.

ABANDONED VILLAGE CAUSES A STIR

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:15:44 +0000

Hundreds of people rang up after the owner of a tiny abandoned village in Castilla y León, just off the N-122 northeast of Soria, put up the 6,000 square metres of rustic land with three houses, a church and livestock enclosures for sale on the Web, for the princely sum of 48,080 euros. The hamlet has no water or electricity, but the owner said a high tension line is just a kilometre away, and there was plenty of water for a well. No-one has lived in Conejares for more than 70 years. The posting prompted on-line discussions with ideas ranging from creating an agrarian cooperative to getting together a group of 50 people to invest in Conejares and repopulate the village. The bewildered Mayor of nearby Ólvega, on which the hamlet depends, told reporters: "It's not even a village, it's just a hillock where there used to be some animal enclosures, and now there's nothing left." Now someone else has come forward, claiming ownership of two of the ruined buildings. Ana María Calvo said she believed one belonged to her father and another to her mother. She has managed to unearth a title deed for one of the enclosures which dates back to 1933 and names the owner as a man she thinks was her great-grandfather. Sra Calvo said she knows of other local people who have always believed they owned part of Conejares.

SPAIN LOSING ATRACTION FOR INVESTORS

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:09:57 +0000

According to a report on Foreign Direct Investment by the Global Policy Council, Spain is rated at the 22nd most attractive country for American investors and the 33rd most attractive one for Asian investors. However, for European investors Spain dropped to 47th place on the list. According to the report, the top ten countries were China, India, the US, the UK, Hong Kong, Brazil, Singapore, the Arab Emirates, Russia and German, in that order. The least attractive were Indonesia, Poland, Central Asia, South Korea and the Czech Republic.

GOVERNMENT WILL NOT RESCUE ´BRICK´ INDUSTRY

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:08:56 +0000

Addressing a conference at the Caja Vital savings bank in Vitoria last week, Economics Minister Pedro Solbes said he did not believe the government should come to the rescue of the construction industry, which is currently at a standstill. He said he would welcome any "sensible idea" about easing the crisis as long as it did mean the government substituting the construction and real estate companies "when things go badly". He said: "I find that very difficult to accept". When the mortgage crisis began to hit home owners last October, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero asked banks to "keep the financing tap" open to real estate companies which he said generated wealth and a high number of jobs. Last week, Sr Solbes said one way out of the crisis was for the construction companies to build so-called protected housing, equivalent to the UK's council housing, which were in greater demand than more expensive housing.