The competition to obtain the public plot with which the project to build 40 public-private residences and day centers sponsored by the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso in the Community of Madrid will begin has whetted the appetite of six companies. On this public land of 8,000 square meters on Oslo Street in the San Blas-Canillejas district (Madrid), valued at two million euros and given by the City Council for a maximum of 75 years, the company that wins must invest 16.7 million euros in building and equipping the center, which it will recover with the 2 million per year that it could charge for the 80 public places, to which the income from the 120 will be added. private spaces, cafeteria, parking and other services. Some attractive numbers that have not prevented interested companies from investigating whether they will be able to exploit public land in more ways, in order to fatten their income statement.
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«Would there be the possibility of adding services to those already specified in the specifications (cafeteria, hairdresser, podiatry, etc.)? Nothing is indicated in the specifications. If so, could these services be provided to people who are not users of the center?», a company has posed to the Administration, according to documentation consulted by this newspaper on the contracting portal. “In clause 4 of the PCP (specific clauses) it is said that the object of the concession consists of the transfer of land to be used exclusively for the construction, start-up, management and operation of a residence for dependent seniors and day care centre, however, clause 44.8 PCP allows the bidder to request authorization for the establishment of other services both to the residents and/or users, as well as to other possible users”, is recalled in another question. And it is specified: «So, are complementary uses of the land allowed with prior authorization or not? The Community has limited itself to clarifying that the object of the concession «is not the transfer of the land» and that «other uses are not allowed» «in addition to residential care and day center services», and the «authorized prevention of dependency and promotion of personal autonomy.» Enough for six interested companies to have submitted their candidacy: Geriatros; Intercentros Ballesol (finally excluded); Ilunion Sociosanitary; Hospitals and Centers Casaverde Madrid; Albertia Servicios Sociosanitary; Several people with signs during a demonstration in defense of public services, on March 23, 2025, in Madrid (Spain). Matías Chiofalo (Europa Press) “Ayuso has not learned anything after the pandemic and the disastrous experience with its indirectly managed residences,” says Lorena Morales, PSOE deputy in the Madrid Assembly specializing in social policies. “Everyone’s public land has been given to the worst bidders, with companies repeatedly denounced by families and workers,” he continues. “You do business with the lives of older people.” Morales is referring to the sanctions for food that expired six months earlier, lack of staff or dirt that have been recorded in public-private residences in Madrid, as this newspaper has been reporting. Between 2019 and 2025, these fines have exceeded 865,000 euros, according to documents consulted in application of the transparency law. However, both the opposition and some affected families consider that the amount of these sanctions is not high enough to act as a brake, and criticize that they do not imply that the punished companies are excluded from new public tenders to manage similar services, such as the one that is being opened now. When this residence that is being tendered is added to the other 39 planned, together they will add a total of 8,000 places (in 40 residences and 40 day centers) with an investment of more than 500 million euros through public-private collaboration. At least 40% of the places (3,200) will be reserved for use of the public network. These are the figures of an apparently juicy business. “The concessionaire will not have any limitations on its activity beyond the existence of places contracted by the Community of Madrid and with a priced price established in the specifications (for the public ones),” reads the contest documentation, which details that the winning company will make funeral, podiatry, hairdressing, cafeteria and parking services available to users and family members. “The Concession is granted for a period of SEVENTY (70) YEARS from the signing of the document in which it is formalized,” it is explained. «However, the term of the concession may be extended for an additional period of FIVE YEARS by common agreement of the parties up to the legal maximum provided for this enabling title,» it is added. And it is recognized: “There is no established consideration value for the concession as such.”
A century of transfer
Consequently, the Community of Madrid exempts the concessionaire from paying a fee for exploiting public land (which would have been 103,821.80 euros) considering the 654,626 euros that it will lose each year as a result of not exploiting public spaces as private ones. “The consideration is of such magnitude that it cancels the payment of the fee by the concessionaire to the Administration,” is defended in the official documentation. A calculation that ignores that the residence could not be built, and no square would exist, without the transfer of public land for almost a century. Thus, the new residence on Oslo Street, in the San Blas-Canillejas district, inaugurates a model that will be imitated throughout the region, and that throughout 2026 will result in twenty similar competitions for the transfer of plots, according to the government. Because after the transfer of this first plot of land, at least 19 others will arrive in different districts of the capital, as well as many others in the municipalities of Leganés, Móstoles, San Sebastián de los Reyes, Alcobendas, Rivas Vaciamadrid and Torrejón de Ardoz. All of these plots will be part of the 40-40 Day Residences and Centers Plan, with medical examination equipment for telemedicine and rooms with oxygen. Most of these lands are part of the assets of the Madrid City Council, directed by José Luis Martínez-Almeida (of the PP, like Díaz Ayuso). In this way, the City Council will transfer 19 public plots valued at more than 87 million for the Ayuso public-private residences project. These lands are distributed across 13 districts of the capital of Spain, and their transfer involves transferring almost 200,000 square meters of municipal land that the concessionaire companies will be able to exploit for decades, with a model similar to the controversial one of concerted education. “It is the most ambitious residential challenge in the history of this Community,” Ayuso said when she announced the plan during the State of the Region Debate, in September 2024. The goal is for them all to be ready by 2030. Since then, twenty public plots will be tied to that use for almost a century.
