2004 ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT


    The Association Bilbao Metropoli-30 presented its 2004 Progress Report at a ceremony held in the Chamber of Commerce on 12 July 2005. The Report reflects the ground covered in the revitalisation process, whereby the Bilbao of strategic projects has given way to the Bilbao of international events.

    Over the past fifteen years, Metropolitan Bilbao has been the focus of major transformations in urban development and infrastructures, attaining a level of quality of life and international competitiveness that enables it to aspire to the arrangement of major international projects and events. Accordingly, Metropolitan Bilbao should be perceived as innovative, professional and welcoming, with a strong communal identity and spirit, all of which requires the adaptation of people and their scale of values.

    In 2004, when surveyed in opinion polls, the inhabitants of Metropolitan Bilbao declared that they take a great deal of pride in their city (68%). The metropolis continues to be safe and is perceived as such by residents and visitors alike (74%).

    In addition, last year registered a record number of tourists in Bizkaia, (739,685 visitors, with an increase of 19% over the previous year) on its way to consolidating itself as a destination for cultural tourism and business trips.

    Insofar as infrastructures and strategic features are concerned, special mention should be made of the commissioning of the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, a new venue that provides ease of access and myriad uses, constituting a key element for economic development. Long-term strategic projects, such as the Basque Y rail-link or the Southern Metropolitan ring road, are making further progress, whilst backing is being given to emerging sectors with high growth capacity, such as those involving biosciences. Abandoibarra has now concluded its urban development plan following the approval of the Iberdrola Tower, and the urban regeneration continues of large areas of the metropolis, replacing former areas of industrial and port use with attractive settings that generate opportunities.

    The Progress Report was presented within the framework of the XLV Bilbao Metropoli-30 Workshop, in which an address was made by the Director of Bilbao Airport, Begoņa Llarena, on "Airports as strategic infrastructures. The example of Bilbao".