The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, highlighted the promises made by the Government of Spain with Pontevedra, “making the requested investments and supporting the projects that are priority for the city, related to the environment and sustainability”. In this regard, he stressed the role of the Government of Pedro Sánchez as the most investor in the city, “with more than 300 million euros committed or executed”.
Pedro Blanco highlighted these actions after meeting with the mayor of Pontevedra, Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores; with the subdelegate of the Government in the province, Abel Losada, and with the spokeswoman of the Concello, Eva Villaverde, to analyze the state of the projects that the Government and the Concello are developing in Pontevedra, in a meeting in which the focus was placed on infrastructure, the environment and sustainable mobility or tourism.
Point by point, one of the first topics discussed at the meeting was the Fire Brigade, which the delegate described as “key at the moment” and where the government has already invested 9.5 million euros. The delegate highlighted the Government’s action in this matter, “which will transform the entrance of the city making it more accessible and functional, improving road safety and enabling an accessible pedestrian itinerary”. This work is part of a new infrastructure policy, which prioritises sustainable mobility and road safety.
In the field of infrastructure, the A-57 motorway, the so-called Pontevedra bypass, was another of the points treated with greater interest. Pedro Blanco said that this year the first stretch, of 6 kilometers between Vilaboa and A Ermida, “in which we invest 65 million euros and whose implementation already reaches 90% of the project”, will come into operation. The other two sections, A Ermida Pilarteiros and Pilarteiros Barro, will face the drafting of the construction projects.
Along with the infrastructure, the government delegate, the mayor, the deputy delegate and the spokeswoman discussed other investments that are being implemented in Pontevedra with the support of the central administration. These investments, to a greater extent, are part of the Government’s Recovery Plan, which amounts to 11 million euros within the city of Pontevedra in different areas.
Of these, Pedro Blanco highlighted the 3.4 million euros to promote the renaturalization project of Pontevedra, which includes actions that will allow the city to recover degraded river spaces, such as the Gafos river or the Alba marsh. Also the 2.7 million euros projected for sustainable mobility in the humanization of Calle de la Santiña and in the network of cameras and sensors that comes from hiring this Concello to improve the management of road traffic, as well as the 1.7 million euros for the reform of the administrative building of Churruchaos and the old conservatory for municipal use.
Transformation of Pontevedra as a tourist destination
The delegate also wanted to claim the great effort that the Government is making in the transformation of Pontevedra as a tourist destination, which it supports with 3 million euros. “In tourism we are making a great effort after the pandemic to achieve a more resilient and less seasonal tourism model,” he said, and took the opportunity to remember that last year the Parador de Pontevedra was reopened after its reform, “in which more than 1.7 million euros were invested by the Government.”
In Pontevedra, the Ministry of Industry and Tourism is financing with 2 million euros the Tourism Sustainability Plan, on a model of enogastronomy in the case of Pontevedra, and also supports with one million euros the environmental restoration of the whole of the Ribeira del Lérez, including the Island of Sculptures.
The government delegate assessed the meeting with the Pontevedresa mayor in a very positive way, highlighting the good line of dialogue and collaboration that exists with her, and also wanted to send a message to the neighbors: “The Government of Spain is committed to the city, with its plans for the present and the future, and appreciates very positively its online policies of the Government’s commitment to sustainability, the recovery of spaces and coexistence.”