Covelo, December 23, 2024.- The City of Covelo has become an example of attracting European funds through the calls launched by the Government of Spain. The municipality, with a municipal budget of barely 2 million euros, obtained contributions from the central executive that exceed 2.1 million euros. A milestone that was recognized today by the subdelegate of the Government, Abel Losada, in the institutional visit to Covelo.
Abel Losada, who signed the honor book, congratulated the mayor, Juan Pablo Castillo, and highlighted the “enormous impact” that European funds “also on small rural municipalities.” The visit was also accompanied by Councilman José Fernández Muradanas.
Covelo obtained funding for three actions funded by the Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE) and framed within the DUS5000 program of demographic challenge and the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) of the Government of Spain. Losada stressed that Covelo had the talent to present projects to public calls in which he competed with other municipalities throughout Spain and achieved “a truly spectacular global contribution”. In addition, it meant, “we must reclaim this transparent way of distributing public funds, through calls published in the official bulletins instead of the direct agreements that abound in other administrations.” “Here is an example of good work, which begins with the City Council and ends with the Government of Spain; a magnificent example of what interinstitutional collaboration should be.” By link, he added, it is necessary to congratulate the mayor, Juan Pablo Castillo.
The first project consisted of the renovation of the public lighting network with a grant of 902,444 euros. The works allowed the renovation of 1,398 light points of the 1,563 existing in the municipality, replacing the old sodium vapor lamps with LED luminaires, a clean technology with which the emission of greenhouse gases was minimized. 81 of the 84 existing dashboards were also modernized, adapting them to the current regulations. In addition, a bedside remote management system was installed. Once the performance was finished, the consumed power was reduced from 138 Kw to only 54 Kw, achieving an energy saving of almost 70%.
The second action focused on the humanization of the center of the town and was framed in the call to promote a low carbon economy, with FEDER funds. In this case, the contribution of 344,527 euros allowed the creation of three pedestrian sections between the Town Hall Square and the Major Center, the Town Hall Square with the Social Center and the road linking these two endowments. This work is also executed.
Finally, Covelo comes from obtaining a third contribution of 866,214 euros also from the PRTR to reform the old houses of teachers, which are to be reconverted into four homes for social rent and a coworking center.