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Ignacio Lillo
Friday, 27 February 2026, 13:57
One of the things I find hardest to bear in the city of Malaga is the institutional apathy that has become deeply entrenched here.
In this city, making life difficult for residents - primarily through the abandonment of responsibilities - comes at no cost whatsoever. Not only that, but it can go on for as long as the offending party pleases, safe in the knowledge that impunity is the rule. And those who suffer the consequences can either put up with it or fend for themselves as best they can.
The latest glaring case to come to my attention involves residents living near Calle Bailén. These poor souls have the misfortune of living close to a plot of land where a building project was abandoned almost as soon as the foundations were laid - and that was at least five years ago.
What had been built, the base slab and the perimeter retaining walls, was enough to prevent the ground from draining properly, and the result is a vast pool of standing water.
The rest is easy to imagine: after an entire winter of almost relentless rain, around 50,000 litres of stagnant water have accumulated, creating the perfect breeding ground for a serious mosquito plague, not to mention the stench of rotting organic matter.
Nobody in the entire area dares open a window or step out onto a terrace without risking being painfully set upon.
The frustration reached such a pitch that one of the residents fed a hose with a drainage pump from their own home in an attempt to remove as much water as possible - but even that was not enough to dry it out completely, and the bloodsuckers are capable of breeding in barely an inch of water.
The owner of the plot, whoever that may be, has completely washed their hands of even the most basic maintenance. It would not cost that much to clean it up and then put a simple corrugated metal cover over it - a makeshift roof of sorts - to stop the rain getting in, or at least to reduce the amount that accumulates.
But of course, in Malaga, making life miserable for your neighbours costs you nothing. So another five years could easily pass with nobody taking the slightest bit of responsibility.
Leaving aside the fact that this particular case may well be caught up in some legal dispute that complicates matters further, in cases of obvious insalubrity and clear risk to public health such as this one, the city council has an obligation to step in and prevent disease and infestation.
It cannot hide behind the fact that the plot is privately owned and simply wash its hands of the matter.
There will always be time to bill whoever turns out to be the legal owner for the cost of any work carried out. But the impunity of those who act irresponsibly has to come to an end, once and for all.