The government of Pere Aragonès is at a crossroads regarding the plan to build the Hard Rock Casino in Salou (Tarragona). And not only because it finds itself in a bind by conditioning its two potential partners, the socialist and the common, to support budgets in the opposite direction to the leisure complex. If the plan doesn't work, the Catalan executive risks, in addition to international discredit, reversing a decision that has already been made, and also having to pay millions in damages to the sponsoring company. ERC and PSC are close to the budget agreement (combined 66 seats), but they are two seats short of a majority. The Generalitat has precedents, such as the ruling that forced it to compensate the consortium that won the privatization of Aguas Ter Llobregat, which was overturned by another court.
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Almost six years ago, in May 2018, the Ministry of Economy granted the American company a license to install and operate a casino for the construction of the Hard Rock Entertainment World venue between Vila-seca and Salou. It was the only one, although there were three possible approvals. At the time, Aragonès was number two in the department. The agreement meant that the complex's architectural project was approved and an initial investment of 700 million euros was envisaged (an amount that was later increased).
As a guarantee, the tourism and leisure group had to present a guarantee of 10 million euros, later it had to present a similar guarantee to Incasól for the reservation of the land on which the venue was to be built. In this way, the company has an acquired right that would provide a legal avenue to file a lawsuit. Government sources assure that the contract does not mention the possible collection of compensation if the project fails due to the lack of an urban master plan, a procedure that the regional executive provides for pending approval.
After the issuance of the license was approved, the process of implementing the project was delayed. On the one hand, the sale and purchase of the land owned by Criteria Caixa (the investment arm of La Caixa) was postponed at the express request of Hard Rock. On the other hand, the urban master plan (PDU), once approved, ran afoul of the courts, forcing the government to revise it. The entire process is currently in this phase. It is up to the Department of Territory to adapt it to the court ruling, taking into account two reports commissioned by the Environment and Civil Protection Authority. And the opposition, especially the socialists, insist that this is happening now, despite the resistance of Esquerra, due to the pressure that it is exerting on the territory of its bases and in the lower house, which in recent years has been its crutch to approve the bills.
Approval of the PDU would mean entering another risk phase. Sources familiar with the procedure indicate that once the procedure is approved, a period of six months will be opened to complete the sale of the property. This is another complicated operation in the process. The government wanted to control this process and therefore agreed with Criteria to act as an intermediary in the transfer process through a purchase option: once everything was ready, it would acquire the properties within a few hours to the financial holding company of La Caixa and without a continuity solution they would be transferred to the Seminole group transferred. A budget item of 120 million euros has been earmarked for one year to carry out this outstanding transaction. A lot of time has passed since then and Criteria has requested an update on the price of the operation, which would now be 130 million euros. But beyond the value of the project, there are other contractual factors before completion.
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