The delegate of the Government in Extremadura, José Luis Quintana, met today with a representative of the Community of Irrigators of Tierra de Barros to whom he reiterated the support of the Government of Spain to the irrigation project of Tierra de Barros. "Since December 2020, this action has had the declaration of a project of general interest approved in the Council of Ministers, which demonstrates the commitment that this Government has had since its inception with a project that is of great importance for this region and for Extremadura."
During the meeting, Quintana clarified that the viability of the project does not depend on issues such as its inclusion in the Guadiana Basin Hydrological Plan since the project has the concession of water by the Guadiana Hydrographic Confederation based on the environmental impact statement, already approved and which is the competence of the Junta de Extremadura. In this regard, he recalled that in November 2021 the Governing Board of the Guadiana Hydrographic Confederation already adopted the approval agreement of the Action Program of the groundwater body Tierra de Barros.
This clarification is included in the last letter sent by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition to the Autonomous Government in response to the request made and where it is explained that the Guadiana Basin Hydrological Plan will be modified in the year 2027, but "the current one allows water concessions for the creation of new irrigation under a series of conditions, provided they have an environmental impact report." In the case of the Tierra de Barros project, in January 2018 it obtained the favorable strategic environmental statement of the General Plan of Transformation of the Irrigated Zone of Tierra de Barros.
"In the agricultural sector and with projects of this type what we need is to transfer certainties and maintain a firm, committed commitment to carry out projects that contribute to improve the future of this land. The Government of Spain remains committed and the solution to this issue also requires the Junta de Extremadura, as the sole promoter of the project, to show its willingness to support this action," said Quintana. The government delegate in Extremadura considers that the announcement of the withdrawal of European funds from the project by the regional executive is a statement of intent that does not encourage the development of actions of this kind.