The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, took advantage of his visit to the city of Tui to invite the Galician municipalities to attend the new call for grants of 2% Cultural from the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda and the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and that this year will see its budget increased to 80 million euros, 20 million more than in the previous edition.
The delegate reported that the deadline for applications for this program, which cofinances recovery actions of properties declared Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), of public ownership and use, or private non-profit ownership, but ceded to public use, will be open from September 1 to October 15, 2023. Goods that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site are also eligible for assistance.
With these 80 million euros in aid, the Government plans to mobilize 110 million investments and carry out more than 100 actions throughout Spain. In Galicia, this program has mobilized about 8 million euros in recent years, of which 5.2 million correspond to the contribution of the Government in actions such as the recovery of the Casa de la Veeduría in A Coruña, the consolidation of the wall of Lugo, the improvement of the square of the Cathedral of Mondoñedo or the restoration of A Capilla Mayor of the Cathedral of Ourense, among others.
Tui, who has already obtained funds from this program for the musealisation of its cathedral complex, is one of the many Galician municipalities that could benefit from this aid.
INVESTMENTS IN TUI
The government delegate took advantage of his meeting with the mayor of Tui, Enrique Cabaleiro, to remember the government’s commitment to the town, which materializes in investments that exceed 17 million euros.
In this regard, he highlighted the 2 million euros obtained in the last call for the Destination Tourism Sustainability Plans (PSTD) of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, financed from the funds of the Government Recovery Plan.
This plan, called ‘Live the history, discover Tui: sustainable connection between heritage and nature’, seeks, on the one hand, the recovery of the walls, which play a very important role in the perception of the historical city and, on the other, the enhancement of the intramural area of the city.
This investment, added to the 330,000 euros received by the city of the National Tourist Plan Xacobeo, also financed from the funds of the Government Recovery Plan, means, in the words of Pedro Blanco, “an important boost to the tourist image of this city, which is also strengthened with the conservation of its rich heritage.”
In this respect, the delegate recalled the 1.56 million euros of the Program to Promote the Rehabilitation of Public Buildings (PIREP) of the Ministry of Transport, which allowed to improve the envelope and energy efficiency of the multipurpose building of Calle Camilo José Cela and which will also allow the recovery of the Main Theater, an old demand that will finally be answered thanks to the arrival of the funds of the Government Recovery Plan.
Also in terms of conservation of the heritage, in this case the natural, the delegate also valued the 230,000 euros of the Mi｟｠ -Sil Hydrographic Confederation for the construction of a pedestrian walkway at the mouth of the Rubio River, or the 935,000 euros that this entity allocates to the project to improve the environment, accessibility and ethnographic heritage of the Caselas River.
Commercial dynamization
In addition, government money is also contributing to the cultural dynamization of the village. Thus, the 1.3 million line of aid to the commercial sector of 2022 of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism served to undertake the reform and modernization of the municipal market and the revitalization of local trade, an action that will now be strengthened with the granting of another 724,535 euros to complete the second phase, which covers the humanization of the market environment and concrete initiatives in training, digitalization and sensitization for local trade.
Infrastructure
In the infrastructure chapter, the City of Tui benefited in recent years from several actions of the Ministry of Transport amounting to more than 11 million euros. Noteworthy are the 8.7 million of the project for the complete renovation of infrastructures and tracks in the railway section Guillarei-Portuguese Frontier Station, which is complemented by a contract of 864,143 euros for the supply and transport of track equipment for the renovation of this section; the 586,530 euros for actions in the cathedral complex for museum uses (1.5% cultural), the 604,916 euros for the adaptation and improvement of a section of the Camino de Santiago Portuguesa in the N-550 and the 100,000 euros for the elaboration of the Urban Agenda.
Other facilities that also obtained funding from the Government were the Police and Customs Cooperation Center, which received 2.65 million euros from the Ministry of the Interior for its construction, or the Specialized Center for Sports Technification (CETD) in rowing and canoeing of the City of Tui, which obtained an aid of 600,000 euros from the Superior Council of Sports for its improvement and rehabilitation.
All these investments, which are completed with the 4,000 euros for the creation of a classroom mentor, the more than 500,000 euros for the creation of the offices Acelera Sme of Tui and Cambados or the 16,323 euros of the State Pact against Gender Violence, “show the commitment of the Government of Spain and its president, Pedro Sánchez, with Tui and with each and every one of the municipalities of Galicia”, concluded the government delegate.