The municipal land that Cáceres must cede to build the giant Buddha is worth 472,000 euros

The municipal land that the City Council of Cáceres must transfer to build the giant Buddha has a value of 472,393.10 euros. This is stated in the extensive documentation on the project to which EL ESPAÑOL has had access.

Its official name is Plot 144 of Polygon 23. It is located next to the so-called Cerro Arropé (or Monte Arropé) and has an extension of more than 111 hectares.

Various municipal reports, consulted by this newspaper, confirm that, currently, “there are no municipal actions on it” nor “any economic exploitation of this asset is exercised”. It is a rural and non-developable land, for agricultural use, about 4.7 kilometers from the city center.

However, as indicated by a technical opinion, the entire farm is located within a ZEPA zone (acronym for Special Protection Zone for Birds), which is forcing the town council of Cáceres to re-evaluate the project and study ways of overcome pitfalls like this.

The farm is also part of the Natura 2000 Network. Each of its hectares has a value of 4,237 euros, so the total value exceeds 472,000 euros.

[The political relay stops the construction of the 47-meter Buddha in Cáceres: “It will not be done without guarantees”]

However, the installation of the statue of the Great Buddha, weighing 3,500 kilos and 47 meters high, would be environmentally viable and would not affect the limitations imposed on the land by its ZEPA status.

However, the recently elected new mayor, Rafael Mateos, from the PP, demands that the project be carried out “in its entirety”. That is to say, that not only the enormous statue be built, but the rest of the facilities that should surround the enormous figure: a monastery that will house Buddhist monks and part of the relics of Buddha, an interpretation center, gardens that mix oriental vegetation with La Extremadura, a craft shop... Otherwise, the City Council would stop supporting the project.

And so Mateos conveyed it to the members of the Nepali delegation that several days ago visited the city of Extremadura, a World Heritage Site since 1986.

The delegation was made up of several members of the Government of the Asian country and the mayor of Lumbini, the hometown of Buda. Also, representatives of the Lumbini Garden Foundation, one of the promoters of the project and which set out to raise some 20 million euros from private donations to cover it.

The Nepali delegation asked Mateos to “expedite” the construction of the Big Buddha. For his part, the PP councilor insisted that they will demand “transparency and guarantees” and “that the project be fully executed.” “Cáceres does not want to be left alone with the statue,” stressed the mayor.

There is still no date for the Plenary Session of the City Council to be held in which the transfer of the farm to the Lumbini Garden Foundation should be approved. The assignment would be “temporary and free” for a maximum period of 30 years.

A legal report from the City Council warns that certain bureaucratic obstacles “should be resolved and clarified” before agreeing to the transfer. The approval of the Junta de Extremadura is also required.

“We want to proceed with caution”

According to the most recent data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), Cáceres has a population of about 95,000 inhabitants.. It was the previous municipal team, from the PSOE, who chose the farm that must be ceded for the installation of the enormous figure. As planned, it would be the largest seated Buddha statue in the world.

“We want to be cautious and have guarantees,” Mateos, recently installed in the City Council, told EL ESPAÑOL by phone last Friday. “That the project be carried out as a whole, in its entirety,” stressed the new councilor, who assumes that it is a plan as exotic as it is complex and ambitious. “Cáceres does not want to be left alone with the statue,” he stressed.

Mateos also remains in his idea that the construction “does not cost money to the people of Cáceres”, beyond the transfer of the municipal property.

“When we are confirmed that the land is capable of hosting the project and the Lumbini Foundation guarantees that it continues and that they confirm that they have those commitments, then go ahead, but always the complete complex,” explained the new councilor. by phone to EL ESPAÑOL.

Thanks to this project, Cáceres is now a “sister city” with Lumbini, the birthplace of Buda and from which the foundation takes its name. In fact, both cities are part of the list of World Heritage Sites , recognition granted by Unesco.

The Junta de Extremadura, when it was chaired by the socialist Guillermo Fernández-Vara, also gave its endorsement to these constructions. In fact, the leader was invited to visit Nepal, but only the previous mayor of Cáceres, the socialist Luis Salaya, attended. After the trip, the Great Buddha was presented at the Extremadura stand at the Fitur 2020 Fair.

The exotic project fell to Cáceres after the political relief in Madrid frustrated the aspirations of the Lumbini Foundation. In 2019, after José Luis Martínez Almeida became mayor of the capital — replacing the leftist Manuela Carmena — the PP team refused to welcome the giant statue in the capital.