The Delegate of the Government in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, together with the Commissioner for Reconstruction, José Mª Ángel, have today carried out a review of the actions carried out by the Central Executive during the six months following the dana that devastated the province of Valencia. For Bernabé, the Government of Spain is the main contributor to the reconstruction of the municipalities affected by the dana, as demonstrated by the fact that “the State has mobilized 20 times more resources than any other administration, in this case the Generalitat: €16.6 billion against the €806 million allocated by the Autonomous Government.” In addition, as he added, “the amount paid by the Government of Spain amounts to more than 5,000 million euros, 11 times more than the amount invested by the Generalitat”.
The priority of the Government of Spain, said Bernabé, is that the province of Valencia “not only remains the same, but that it improves and is more resilient so that it can face a situation like this and that its infrastructures are maintained in the best conditions”.
Direct aid so that “no one is left behind”
Bernabé pointed out that “direct aid has made it possible to ensure that no one is left behind and that the economic recovery begins”. Thus, he pointed out that the Insurance Compensation Consortium has processed almost 250,000 applications, paying about 2.8 billion euros. In addition, 2,800 companies have benefited from the RTAs, which have benefited more than 32,000 workers. Currently, 3,297 workers remain in ERTE. The increase in the Minimum Vital Income (IMV) has benefited 10,438 people, 6,613 of them also receiving the increase in the Child Support Supplement.
Also, more than 26,500 companies and self-employed people have benefited from the direct aid of the Tax Agency, being paid 338 million euros. In addition, 5,104 affected self-employed persons took advantage of the cessation of extraordinary activity.
For its part, Agroseguro has paid more than 45 million euros to farms affected by the dana, while 8,335 people have benefited from the aid of at least 5,000 euros to compensate the losses of agricultural incomes.
The line of guarantees of the ICO has allowed the advance of the indemnities and that the self-employed and companies can receive the necessary financing to recover their activity. The guarantees have funded more than 2,700 operations for more than 621 million euros.
Reconstruction, a priority for the Government of Spain
Bernabé recalled that 78 municipalities have requested aid for the reconstruction of municipal infrastructures to which almost 1.75 billion euros have been paid. Thus, work is already under way to repair 26 rural roads, 70 irrigating communities, 9 nurseries and agricultural plots in 17 municipalities.
Also, 566 actions have been planned for the recovery of waterways and hydraulic infrastructures of Júcar, Segura and Guadalquivir. More than 50% of them are completed or in execution, with almost 250 million euros of budget and another 500 million already approved for aid to the sanitation, supply and purification of the basins.
Emergency works have been declared in the State Road Network and municipal networks for an amount of 157.7 million euros. Bernabé stressed that “all actions proceed according to the expected deadlines, allowing all sections of the State Road Network to be open to traffic”. In total, 380 million euros have been mobilized to repair transport infrastructures, including 192 million for the recovery of the Commuter service.
In addition, he concluded, the Government “has helped to shelter and care for those most affected and to ensure the safety of people and infrastructure.” Thus, 177 homes have been made available to the affected citizens to facilitate their relocation, 173 from SAREB and 4 purchased by SEPES, to which another 24 will be added in the purchase process.
31,950 calls and 4,814 citizens have been attended by professionals of the Tax Agency, many of them in the 13 information points and 22 temporary offices set up by the situation.
For their part, the Armed Forces and the State Security Forces have carried out key tasks in the works of water bilge, cleaning of garages, rescue of people and consolidation of security. During the critical days, more than 30,000 military personnel were deployed, and nearly 10,000 national police and civilian guards were deployed.