The Lleida region of Pallars Jussà, with 13,000 inhabitants, is one of the most depopulated in Catalonia. A project was presented there in 1998 that was going to turn the area into the goose that lays the golden eggs of the region.
In Espui it was planned to open a ski resort that aspired to be the benchmark in southern Europe. Only 90 apartments were built and more than half remain empty or half-built. The complex has gone up for auction half a dozen times without a single buyer coming forward.