From David Beckham to Bing Crosby, from Ronaldo to Gonzalo Higuaín. La Moraleja has always been the district of the rich and jet-set, footballers and artists. When they lived on the Iberian Peninsula they were all there, in the enclave of the scroungers of Spain, in Alcobendas, in the northern Community of Madrid. The mansions here are impressive, set in the midst of luxurious golf courses, with real estate prices that go far beyond decency. The giants of the Spanish economy, the financial elite par excellence, have imposed the signs of unbridled luxury in these streets with the challenge of the most self-referential offices. In the Avenida de Europa, at number 18, in the sparkling La Moraleja district, the crystal palace (in the photo) has a name suspended in the Madrid sky: Acciona.
The Spanish climb
Not a colossus, more. It deals with everything from civil engineering to construction, from infrastructure to transport. It governs and operates Acciona Trasmediterranea, Spain's leading ferry company, with a fleet of 25 ships. It daily connects the Spanish coasts with the Balearic Islands, the Canaries, Ceuta and Melilla, as well as connections with Morocco, Algeria and France. In 2020, despite the pandemic, the turnover of the multinational reaches 6.472 billion euros.
The Sardinian landing
From the neighborhood of the rich in Madrid to Is Arenas, in the stretch of water of the Molentargius in Cagliari, the step is short. Here too, for some years now, a stone's throw from the de S'arruloni dewatering pump, Acciona has impressed its trademark without hesitation. A climb to the government of sewage that is unbelievable: first the management of the purification plant of the Sardinian capital and now the government with full hands of the vast majority of sewage wastewater on the island of Sardinia.
After 700 years
After seven hundred years from the Catalan-Spanish domination, the ancient land of the Nuraghi yields one of the most delicate sectors, that of water purification, to an entirely Iberian multinational. The contract is public, European, and with all the trappings of legality, until proven otherwise. Maybe difficult to conquer for Sardinian companies, given the requirements of the gigantic lots foreseen in the tender. And, in fact, the operation leaves no crumbs. Acciona, from Madrid, breaks through Sardinia. First on tiptoe and then with an offer that annihilates all competition. Beyond the Cagliari purifier, the Spaniards conquered the whole island, leaving out, perhaps out of modesty, only the microscopic basin of the Marmilla-Mandrolisai and that of Lanusei. For the rest, the keys to the purifiers, over 200, pass into Iberian hands. Last May the final award: the Spaniards win the most conspicuous contract in the history of water services in Sardinia.
