The subdelegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, went today to the City of Mañón to visit the Freido School, which thanks to the Just Transition Funds will be rehabilitated to become the Casa del Mayor. The rehabilitation financed 100% from these funds and has an investment of 304,046 euros.
During the visit he was accompanied by the Territorial Agent of the Institute for the Just Transition, Nuria Álvarez, and the mayor of Mañón, Alfredo Dovale.
The Freitid School was founded by emigrants from Mañón in Havana and was aimed at promoting and disseminating free education in their homeland. Thanks to the investment of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, the city council will allocate this emblematic building to the care and attention of the elderly of the municipality.
During her visit to Mañón, the deputy delegate of the Government remarked the commitment of the Government of Pedro Sánchez with the municipalities affected by the closure of the As Pontes and Meirama center assured “that the commitments of this Government do not remain in words or in papers, they materialize how the neighbors of Mañón can verify”.
In addition to As Somozas, the funds of the Just Transition agreement reach 11 other municipalities in the province affected by the closures of the As Pontes and Meirama power plants. Cabanas, Ferrol, Cerdido, Mañón, Moeche, San Sadurniño, Ortigueira, As Somozas, Cerceda, Ordes and Tordoia are other municipalities benefiting from this aid, totalling 11.3 million euros.
The Government’s subdelegate stressed the importance of many of these projects being carried out in demographically challenging municipalities such as Mañón. Precisely, one of the objectives of these funds is to attract population to these municipalities that in recent years suffered a decrease in the number of inhabitants.
New call
The high participation rate, the previous call and the quality of the projects presented prompted the Instituto de Transition Justa to work on a new call for grants with similar objectives endowed with 25 million euros and which is currently in the process of public hearing until 11 of this month. Thus, the municipalities, which are within the Just Transition Agreements, which did not receive subsidies, have a new opportunity to materialize their proposals.
The actions, which will be bankable up to 100%, must contribute to the design of infrastructures and support services for sustainable alternative development. The objective is to act in the geographical areas affected by the closure of nuclear power plants, mining operations and coal-fired power plants, mitigating the adverse effects for the affected municipalities and providing future alternatives.
It also helps to find solutions to various environmental problems identified in the processes of public participation and allows the creation of local employment, which is very necessary for these areas.
Beyond the sectoral agreements with workers and companies, in order to respond to the socio-economic impacts of the affected areas, the Institute for the Just Transition launched the Just Transition Agreements to guarantee the commitment and coordination of the administrations and propose support instruments to materialize the reactivation of the territories. They are based on broad processes of public participation and assessment of socio-economic impacts at the local level.