The Secretary of State for Territorial Policy, Arcadi Spain, held this morning a working meeting with the mayors of the municipalities included in the annex to Royal Decree 6/2024, with the aim of informing them of the steps to be followed to receive the subsidies for the reconstruction of municipal infrastructures, which was published yesterday in the Official State Gazette (BOE).
This ministerial order involves the direct granting of 1,745 million euros to the municipalities of the province of València, Letur (Albacete), Mira (Cuenca) and Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga), to finance 100% the works of repair, restitution or reconstruction of municipal infrastructures, facilities or facilities and services and of the road network of provincial ownership damaged by the DANA.
This amount will allow the restitution of more than 370 infrastructures, which include, among others, the repair of 98 municipal administrative councils and centers, 58 libraries or cultural centers, 55 sports facilities, 45 children's schools, 40 social service centers or 16 markets and slots. To these will also be added the actions in the road network that are necessary. Thus, in total, about 500 interventions will be carried out.
Arcadi Spain thanked the mayors who participated in this informative meeting, which “reflects the permanent willingness of the Government of Spain to dialogue with the municipalities affected by the disaster”, since “we are in constant contact with local entities to facilitate as much as possible the arrival of aid and speed up all processes”, he said.
Main news
The order of the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory includes, in addition to the largest amount of resources mobilized after a catastrophe (1,745 M€), a series of new measures that will be applied in record time. Among them, the Government of Spain, in addition to assuming the full cost of the repair works (usually 50% was assumed), will for the first time deliver in advance to the municipalities the total costs.
Likewise, “to make the repair process more flexible for local entities, for the first time they are allowed to sign an agreement with TRAGSA for the award and execution of works,” said Spain, who also said that “the Government has extended the ordinary deadlines in the different phases of the repair to ensure that the consistories have all possible facilities.”
Finally, Spain stressed that “this ministerial order allows municipal infrastructures to be relocated, always under technical and safety criteria, and incorporate improvements that improve their resistance to climate change”. “It’s not just about rebuilding, but about building better, learning from what happened to adapt our municipalities to the new climate reality,” concluded Spain.
Briefing
In addition to the Territorial Policy SE, Arcadi España, the Delegate of Government of the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, the Commissioner for Reconstruction after DANA, José María Ángel; the Director General of Regional and Local Cooperation, Rafael Briet, and representatives of the public company TRAGSA, participated in the working meeting, which was conducted electronically from the Valencian Community Government Delegation.