In the Municipal Plenary Session of March, initial approval was given to the Special Plan that would allow the construction of this infrastructure. The issue generated debate in the plenary, as a citizen expressed disagreement with the project.
The municipal government, for its part, argued that it is legally obliged to approve the project, as it has the approval of the Bizkaia Provincial Council and the URA agency. In addition, the municipal architect also issued a favorable urban planning report, and the local entity hired the advisory services of a lawyer to manage the situation.
“"The deadlines will be extended, there may be appeals along the way, and then, the final approval would be in the hands of the Bizkaia Provincial Council, because Arakaldo is a municipality of less than 1,000 inhabitants."
The mayor has indicated that the company Ekin Inbertsioak has been working on this project since 2021, and that in March of last year they submitted the application for the Special Plan. In May, however, they withdrew it and resubmitted it in September. For this reason, he is skeptical about the project's development, as all legal procedures could be extended for another two years before construction begins.
Furthermore, he has raised the issue of energy consumption, as a data center would consume a lot of electricity and the space is not currently prepared for it. In 2019, the former Norten factory passed into the hands of Ekin Inbertsioak, and demolition work began then.
This industrial land in Ugarriza has remained empty for more than ten years, since the concrete company Norten closed its doors. Among other things, the stands for the new San Mamés were built there; and shortly after completing that commission, the company closed. The factory then became completely abandoned. The previous mayor of Arakaldo denounced on several occasions that the management of Norten had committed several irregularities during those years.
When the land passed into the hands of Ekin Inbertsioak in 2019, they demolished the old factory and collected and burned the accumulated waste. This caused an uncontrolled fire one night, as one of the bonfires was not properly extinguished. The company, for its part, assured that it had all the permits from the Bizkaia Provincial Council and Base Gorria to carry out these works.
Currently, the area is a flat plot. There is no longer any trace of what was Norten. The company Ekin Inbertsioak has created a new legal entity to execute the data center project, called CPD 4 Arakaldo SL. However, the mayor of Arakaldo has stressed that Ekin Inbertsioak would limit itself to managing the land, and then would transfer the project to another company.
For now, the company uses the land in Arakaldo as a waste dump, and its trucks accumulate waste from other places there. The City Council has sent several requests to the company to find out the details of this activity. Ekin Inbertsioak has declined to make statements on the matter.
