The vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has stated that the Government's objective is to "continue supporting and facilitating support" for actions against the drought, despite the Government's refusal to present the General Budgets of the State (PGE) for the electoral advance in Catalonia, but affirms that it will be necessary to see if any adjustment is required.
He said this this Thursday at a press conference in the Town Hall of Amposta (Tarragona) in which the councilor for Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, David Mascort, assured that the aid to farmers due to the drought already forecasts "are not in danger" after the Generalitat Budget for 2024 failed to pass, but he believes it will be more complicated if new aid should be pushed for this year.
Ribera and Mascort have participated in Amposta in the second meeting of the bipartite commission of the Ebro Delta.
During the meeting, Minister Mascort explained the need to continue advancing within the framework of the Delta Strategy developed by the Generalitat in order to reverse the subsidence, regression and loss of habitats in the delta. According to the Ministry, the Government is about to finish the works to reinforce the protection guards of the Ebro delta ponds.
Mascort has explained that he has acted on about 58,500 meters of the rafts of the right and left hemispheres. Specifically, in the Canal Vell lagoon and in Tancada, Encanyissada and the island of Buda.
The work that began in February 2023 constitutes a protection link to prevent the regression of the delta.
"This will make it possible to deal with the rise in sea water level, and prevent it from overflowing from the ponds onto the rice crops," Mascort stated.
In the work, 2.6 million euros have been invested and the height of the existing dikes has been renovated to 1.2 meters above sea level and a width of about 4 meters, with material mostly accumulated in the ponds themselves and in the drains.
The councilor has also explained that work is scheduled to begin in May to build the protective guard along the bay of Els Alfacs. In this sense, he took advantage of the meeting with the vice president to demand speed in the concession procedures for some sections that run through the maritime-terrestrial zone, the responsibility of the Ministry.
The guarding of the Alfacs will act as a containment barrier against rising seas and will help prevent the entry of water inland and thus minimize the salinization of the Ebro delta. It will also prevent damage to infrastructure and loss of farmland.
