Guadalajara.- The Government of Pedro Sánchez is directly executing more than 565 projects of the Transformation and Resilience Recovery Plan (PRTR) in the province of Guadalajara, more than 38 million euros of funding. An amount that is helping to boost the extension of broadband in rural areas, strengthen tourist infrastructures or improve Civil Guard headquarters.
In this regard, the Government’s sub-delegate in the province of Guadalajara, Mercedes Gómez, has highlighted the nine million euros of the UNICO program in the calls for 2021 and 2022 for the extension of broadband in rural areas. “More than 32,000 households and companies in more than 42 municipalities are already benefiting from the expansion of high-speed internet coverage, and the forecast is to extend broadband to 100% of the population by 2025,” he said.
Another amount that the subdelegate wanted to specify is the six million euros destined for two Tourism Sustainability Plans financed with Next Generation funds: The Literary Alcarria, which covers the towns of Torija, Brihuega and Cifuentes, and will be managed by the Diputación, and the Tourist Sustainability Plan of the city Guadalajara.
The European funds obtained by the Government of Pedro Sánchez will also serve to improve the facilities and equipment at the posts of the Civil Guard of Almonacid de Zorita, Atienza, Brihuega, Jadraque, Molina de Aragón and Sigüenza, with a total investment of 5.6 million euros. “Security is a fundamental aspect to address the demographic challenge,” said Gómez.
Aid is also reaching companies, so more than 470 SMEs in the province are already beneficiaries of Recovery Plan projects, mainly the Digital Kit, which has more than 400 SMEs.
People protection
At the same time, the subdelegate stressed, the Government of Pedro Sánchez “is committed to the protection of people, which translates into measures aimed at the middle and working classes, but also at the most vulnerable”. As he said, “these are measures that are driven by a change in the model of economic development, which will no longer be based on job insecurity, low pensions or the abandonment of vulnerable people. This is a government committed to the protection of the social majority, which is complying with the province and the people of Guadalajara.”
Coinciding with the debate on pension reform, Gómez wanted to highlight the improvement that these benefits have experienced. “In Guadalajara there are almost 44,000 pensioners, with an average pension of 1,260 euros as of February 1 of this year, which has been revalued almost 10% in relation to the previous year,” he recalled.
“The most frequent benefit is the retirement pension, which receives more than 27,000 people in our province, more than 60% of the total pensioners. Well, the average retirement pension this year stood at 1,457 euros per month, with an increase of 114 euros in relation to the previous year, and in relation to 2018, the average retirement pension has risen by almost 300 euros per month, about 20%”, he explained.
Along with the pension reform, another of the great achievements of this legislature has been to carry forward the labor reform, which has not only allowed to boost Social Security affiliation to record figures with 9,768 members more than in 2018 in Guadalajara (10% more), but has been reflected in a spectacular increase in indefinite hiring. According to the data provided by the subdelegate, in January 2019 little more than 10,000 indefinite contracts were signed in Guadalajara, while in January 2023 more than 31,600 were signed, which represents an increase of more than 200%. “More indefinite hiring and more affiliation means more stable and quality employment,” he said.
Likewise, young people and workers are the direct beneficiaries of measures such as the gratuitousness of the subscriptions of Proxias, of which more than 18,000 have been acquired in our province since the beginning of the year, or the Young Cultural Voucher, which has reached about 1,600 young people of 18 years.
“But the Government of Pedro Sánchez is also committed to the most vulnerable and, therefore, there are already 5,121 beneficiaries of the Minimum Vital Income aid in Guadalajara, of the 2,471 minors, contributing decisively to fight child poverty,” said Gómez. For its part, the beneficiaries of the electric social bond are more than 6,800 as of March of this year.