Ignacio Lillo and Chus Heredia
The central government's current term has an expiry date: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called a general election for 29 November. That means it is time to assess what the government has delivered for Malaga province. The situation remains almost exactly as it was when the term began three years and four months ago. Progress on urgent infrastructure projects has been virtually non-existent.
The facts speak for themselves. During this period, the chronic gridlock on the main state-run roads has not improved. Nor have rail services, whether commuter trains or high-speed services or the province's ability to secure water supplies when drought returns.
These are all areas where the state has responsibility for major infrastructure. Another undeniable factor has done little to help: Spain has rolled over its national budgets every year since 2023, making it harder for the government to commit to new spending.
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A few projects are progressing. The only one with a significant budget commitment is the modernisation of the Bobadilla-Ronda-Algeciras railway line, which received 84.7 million euros in the 2023 budget, the last one Spain approved. This long-standing demand is finally making headway, with work progressing at a good pace on track doubling, new passing loops and stations, tunnel clearance improvements and electrification.
All these upgrades form part of the rail motorway project, which will allow large lorries to travel by train, improving efficiency and making freight logistics more competitive.
Another major project, the restoration of the Baños del Carmen seafront, has finally reached the construction stage. The last national budget allocated one million euros to it and the project has been on the agenda for decades. The plan will increase the beach's area fivefold and protect both the historic bathing complex and the beach with two breakwaters.
Beyond these projects, Malaga's long-standing infrastructure demands have made little headway. The next government will have to pick them up again after the general election.
Eatern Malaga
The Rincón de la Victoria bypass is the biggest black spot on the road network across commuter Malaga. With just two lanes in each direction, it struggles to cope with ever-increasing traffic as the Axarquía's population grows. Accidents occur almost daily.
The eastern stretch of the A-7 motorway has one of the fastest-growing traffic volumes in Spain, with an average of 100,000 vehicles. Traffic has increased by 79 per cent at the El Palo exit and by 56 per cent on the Rincón bypass.
After the summer of 2023, the situation became unsustainable. Following a high-profile campaign for action, the Transport Ministry finally made its first move in December that year, launching a tender for an independent consultancy to examine possible solutions.
The improvement study began towards the end of 2024, with an initial 12-month deadline. Yet, as of October 2026, its findings remain unpublished.
It is worth recalling that the ministry rejected a separate mobility study commissioned by Malaga and Rincón de la Victoria town halls. That report proposed seven improvements at A-7 junctions that could have been implemented in the short term. Other quick fixes to ease tailbacks, including reversible lanes, have also gone nowhere.
Chronic congestion along the Costa del Sol
In May 2025, the Transport Ministry commissioned another study to diagnose the severe road congestion along the Costa del Sol and identify possible solutions. Some stretches, such as the main road through San Pedro Alcántara, suffer traffic jams for much of the day.
The consultants had a year to complete the study, but their conclusions remain unknown. They are examining options such as widening the A-7's main carriageways, reorganising access through collector roads and service roads, and redesigning junctions. They are also considering bypasses around densely populated areas and new links between the A-7 and AP-7 motorways.
There has been no progress, either, on the main demand from Costa del Sol mayors: increasing toll discounts on the AP-7 motorway.
Widening the western ring road
What began as a bus and high-occupancy vehicle lane project has turned into a straightforward widening of Malaga's western ring road, at least on paper.
The authorities approved the construction design and a provisional environmental impact assessment in April 2024, as SUR reported at the time. Since then, however, no further public developments have emerged.
The project, worth more than 100 million euros, includes a new viaduct over the Guadalhorce river. Workers will demolish the existing bridge further south, while the wider scheme will also improve the river's defences against potential flooding. The Ministry of Ecological Transition still needs to carry out flood-prevention work around the former Puente de la Azucarera.
Northern access road to Malaga Airport
The northern access road to Malaga Airport has spent 20 years going through administrative procedures. The proposed link would connect the airport to the outer ring road near Alhaurín de la Torre. Its history illustrates the worst of bureaucratic delays.
The authorities once awarded the construction contract, but later abandoned the plan to make the access road compatible with another long-awaited project: the Vial Distribuidor, a distributor road that falls under the Andalusian regional government's remit and also once had a construction contract.
The northern access road would measure just 1.7 kilometres and have two lanes in each direction, with a speed limit of 80 km/h. Although the final project will determine the precise cost, current estimates put it at 42.26 million euros.
The most frustrating part is that the authorities awarded the original contract to the Acciona-Jiménez Carmona consortium for 26.7 million euros on 14 June 2018. They also commissioned Oficina Técnica de Estudios y Control de Obras to oversee the work for 569,000 euros. Yet construction never got under way.
Commuter rail
The Cercanías commuter network, particularly the C1 line along the coast and, increasingly, the C2 line through the Guadalhorce valley, ranks among the most heavily used transport services in the province. It also has one of the highest passenger-to-service ratios in Spain.
During the 2025 transport round tables, the Transport Ministry set several targets for improving the C1 line. It wants to increase capacity by 60 per cent and cut the interval between trains from 20 to 15 minutes.
Achieving those targets requires several infrastructure projects by rail operator Adif, including doubling the tracks along the Campamento Benítez section. None of this work has started.
In August, state rail operator Renfe announced plans to introduce 100-metre-long trains on the coastal commuter line, offering more capacity and better frequencies. However, passengers will have to wait until at least 2028 for the seven Alstom Series 452 units planned for the service.
No news on the coastal railway
The coastal railway remains one of Malaga's longest-standing infrastructure demands. In 2024, Transport Minister Óscar Puente raised hopes that the project might finally become reality.
In May 2025, the government awarded a contract to draw up a feasibility study, initially due to take 18 months. This marked a historic step: for the first time, the authorities examined the possibility of connecting the entire Costa del Sol by rail, covering most of Malaga province as well as the Campo de Gibraltar area, from Nerja to Algeciras.
The study divides the route into five sections: improving or building a new railway corridor between Malaga and Fuengirola; Fuengirola to Marbella; Marbella to Estepona; Estepona to Algeciras; and Nerja to Malaga.
Under the original timetable, the study should have finished next month. However, the government extended the deadline by four months, pushing completion back to April 2027. Until then, the public will have to wait to learn which sections the authorities consider viable.
Almodóvar high-speed rail bypass hits delays
The Almodóvar bypass is the main project to expand high-speed rail links in the province. It aims to cut journey times between Malaga and Seville by creating a direct connection at Almodóvar del Río, allowing trains to avoid Cordoba station. The bypass should save around 20 minutes, bringing the journey time down to a more competitive one hour and 35 minutes.
State rail infrastructure company Adif launched the project in 2017 and awarded the construction contract in late 2019. Work began in July 2020, with an initial 20-month deadline that pointed to an opening in 2022.
However, unexpected technical problems on site and major design changes soon drove up costs and delayed the project. The latest timetable from the Transport Ministry pointed to the end of 2026 for the line to enter service. Even that date now looks unlikely, as the authorities have included the section in a plan to replace communications and safety systems on the Cordoba-Madrid high-speed line, Spain's first such route.
Critical shortage of electricity capacity
Malaga also suffers from a critical lack of electricity infrastructure, which has left numerous housing and business developments across the province stuck in the pipeline. The government has taken no steps during its term to increase grid capacity. According to the latest figures from e-distribución, capacity had not increased at all by August.
Meanwhile, the queue of projects waiting for a connection continues to grow. Endesa's figures for requested electricity supplies that it cannot meet because the transmission network lacks capacity show that projects awaiting connections required a combined 148 megawatts in June. By August, that figure had risen to 165MW.
Even flagship developments, such as the proposed auditorium at Malaga Port, remain on the waiting list.
Chronic drought of water infrastructure projects
The central government's failure to act on water infrastructure over recent decades is undeniable. Many projects classified as being in the general interest of the state remain outstanding and the only commitment that has begun to take shape, albeit tentatively, is the proposed Axarquía desalination plant. Farmers and water company Axaragua have drawn up preliminary designs, which are now undergoing review.
The Andalusian regional government has even taken responsibility for several projects that fall under the state's remit. These include upgrades to the Marbella desalination plant, the proposed Gibralmedina dam, alternative plans for the Cerro Blanco dam and work on wells and pipelines in the lower Guadalhorce area.
The projects that are moving forward
The review also identifies several state-backed initiatives that are progressing, at least on paper. Alongside the Bobadilla-Algeciras railway upgrade and the Baños del Carmen beach project, Malaga Airport's expansion stands out, although with important caveats.
First, Aena, the airport operator with mixed public and private ownership, will fund the 1.5-billion-euro expansion itself, so the project does not depend on the national budget. Second, construction will not begin on site until at least 2029.
Another major development is the IMEC research and development centre for nanoelectronics and digital technologies. The central government has pledged 500 million euros towards the microchip centre at TechPark, and the authorities awarded the contract to build its headquarters last May.
Two other projects have had less luck. Archaeological remains have disrupted plans to convert the former San Agustín convent into the state library, while a dispute with the construction company has brought the modernisation of the tax agency's headquarters to a standstill.