The delegate of the Government of Spain in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, accompanied by the subdelegate in Jaén, Catalina Madueño, today presented the balance of the actions of the State in the community during the past year, “twelve months in which the community has received 4,462 million euros through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), historical resources that have allowed, among other policies, to promote strategic projects in all the Andalusian provinces generating employment and wealth.”
During the press conference to present the report of accountability of the Government in Andalusia, Fernández has detailed such actions and investments of the Executive, such as the 900 million euros to improve the railway line Granada-Almería, the “significant workload” to the Navantia factory in Cadiz as a result of the contracts of the Ministry of Defense, department that is also in charge of the Logistics Base in Córdoba; the “great advance” in the works of the first phase of the Test Center for Unmanned Systems (CEUS) in Huelva, the 220 million of the Technological Development Centre Jaén
In Fernandez’s opinion, “these are just examples of the big projects promoted by the Government in Andalusia, but it must be taken into account that in addition to the 4,462 million euros of the Recovery Plan distributed by the Andalusian map (3,235 managed directly by the Junta de Andalucía and 1,227, by the Government of Spain), the Executive is developing an intense work of co-governance to improve and protect public services in Andalusia with the increase of 6.3% the deliveries on account, which has been 1,000 million more than last year to reach 20,719 million euros, plus the 518 million euros to improve the situation.
“These figures show that the Government of Spain complies with Andalusia by providing solutions and answers so that families, companies and the self-employed can face the difficult situation that the community has gone through during the year 2022, first to overcome the consequences of the pandemic and then the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the drought,” said the delegate.
In line with this argument, it has deepened some of the measures undertaken by the Government to counteract inflation and protect the social majority, such as the discounts to fuels, from which about five million Andalusian drivers have benefited; the bonus of public transport by road and rail, with more than 300,000 free subscriptions and 50% discounts in Avante in the community, in addition to 24.8 million for municipal and regional public transport; the extension of the thermal social bond, which has reached about 240,000 Andalusians; the social shield of the Minimum Income Vital for almost 490,000 vulnerable people in the community, the reduction of the maximum rent,
Thus he referred to how the Labor Reform has led to indefinite contracts in Andalusia being more than 35% of the total of those formalized throughout the year, “going in 2021 from 467,552 indefinite contracts and to close 2022 with more than 1.43 million, tripling the figure”. In employment policies, Andalusia has received 794.5 million euros to combat unemployment and improve the training of workers, the purchasing power of 1.6 million contributory pensions has been shielded with an increase of 8.5% and 15% for 93,000 non-contributors, in addition to the transfer of 437.2 million in housing policies.
He has also mentioned the progress in infrastructures “that balance the territory and cohesion it” and has put as examples of this the Mediterranean Corridor, with all the sections of the High-Speed Line Almeria-Murcia in works, the integral renewal of the Madrid-Seville line, the conclusion of the functional study Granada-Almeria and the investment in the PGE 2023 of 725 M€. To this has added the completion of road infrastructures with more than 230 million euros (A32, La Pañoleta Link, in Seville…. ); the 50 million for projects already awarded or in progress (Viator, Atarfe-Pinos Puente, Baeza link, Chare Lepe link,…) and other approved projects (Villanueva del Arzobispo-Beas de Segura; Beas de Segura - Arroyo Ojanco, Balazote-Albacete…).
Drought measures
With regard to hydraulic infrastructures, Pedro Fernández recalled that “the Government complies with the agricultural and livestock sector with a package of measures to alleviate the consequences of the drought, in addition to implementing all water infrastructures of General Interest of the State and extraordinary works, with an investment of close to 95 million euros”, to which has added the specific plan for Doñana, with actions totaling 356 million euros to protect this unique space.
In addition, more than 260 million euros have been mobilized for the improvement of the treatment of sanitation and purification systems in Andalusia and projects such as the Rules-Béznar dam and the San Silvestre tunnel have been unblocked, and 123.6 million euros have been allocated for the improvement of irrigation systems in the provinces of Almería, Granada, Málaga and Jaén.
After referring to the 86 million euros destined to the actions in Andalusian airports, to the works worth 120 million in the ports of Huelva, Seville and Algeciras and to the implementation of the 400kv line and Baza substation, with 90 million, Pedro Fernández has called for greater involvement to the Junta de Andalucía “so that the effects of the Recovery Plan reach more quickly to every corner of the community”, so that “they abandon the discourse of confrontation and easy photography and start to truly manage funds that will allow the transformation of our land towards a more advanced, sustainable and egalitarian future”.