The deputy delegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, highlighted today in Laxe “the effort and firm commitment of the Government of Spain to improve services and benefits in municipalities that result in a higher quality of life and contribute to strengthening social and territorial cohesion, combating the digital divide and strengthening equal opportunities”.
The subdelegate has approached Laxe today to present the program “The Administration near you” with which every week technical staff of the Government subdelegation in A Coruña travel to the municipalities of less than 8,000 inhabitants to publicize in a very practical way the large number of procedures of the General Administration of the State that can be carried out without the need for travel; the advantages of the Citizen Folder will be reported and the obtaining of means of identification and digital signature will be facilitated that allow access to these public services.
“The Administration near you” is a program promoted by the Ministry of Territorial Policy with the collaboration of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) to improve the effectiveness of the service provided in the territory by bringing it closer to the citizens.
In the province of A Coruña it will benefit almost 274,000 inhabitants who reside in the 67 concellos of less than 8,000 inhabitants since 72% of the municipalities of the province have precisely less than 8,000 inhabitants.
María Rivas, who was accompanied during her visit to the municipality by the mayor José Luis Pérez Añón, visited the Museo do Mar de Laxe where she saw the good reception of this initiative among the neighbors who participated in the training session.
With “The Administration near you” the Government fights the digital divide and “strengthens social cohesion by offering a closer and more useful administration”, said María Rivas, who thanked the efforts and dedication of the officials of the Government Subdelegation to reach the 67 municipalities of the province with less than 8,000 inhabitants.
Although today the new technologies allow citizens to access a multitude of online procedures and electronic procedures, this access to digital administration “requires adequate means and knowledge in the use of technological tools, something that some of the older population finds more difficult” so programs such as the one that has arrived at Laxe today help to solve much of these difficulties.
The program “The Administration Near You” that began its journey in the concello of Valdoviño, has already traveled the municipalities of Coristanco, Irixoa, Mesía, Coirós, A Capela, Curtis, Sobrado, Frades, Oroso, Vedra, Melide, Boimorto, Vimianzo, Fisterra, Toques, Cee, Oza-Cesuras, Camariñas, Malpica, Muxía, Ponteceso, Dumbría, Cedeixira and Boqueira.
The subdelegate stressed the commitment of the Government of Spain to attend to rural municipalities, highlighting that the demographic challenge is one of its main axes of action. “We work to provide people living outside cities and in small municipalities with access to essential public services, including the most common administrative procedures. They are initiatives that are in line with the demographic challenge policies, among which are the program of rural posters, which already allow to carry out procedures, shipments and payments from home, or the installation of ATMs in small towns” he concluded.
SINGLE PROGRAM-BROADBAND
During her visit to the municipality, María Rivas took the opportunity to remember that the Government has already begun to implement the second call for the Digital Infrastructure Universalization Program for Cohesion, UN-Broadband. The program is funded by the Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), through the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
This second call, which will run between January this year and December 2024, will bring ultra-fast connectivity to 36,556 households and companies in the province, with a total investment of 26,679,653 euros, of which the Government contributes 13,369,858 euros.
As for the call for 2021 that is currently being executed, in the province of A Coruña 15,923 households and companies from 1,890 areas benefited in 76 concellos. The total investment was 4,469,994 euros, of which the Government contributes 3,497,951 euros. The Government’s objective is to provide those smaller municipalities with the necessary tools to make them more competitive. Between the two calls made by the Government, 64 actions will be carried out in Laxe and 445 homes will be benefited.