The budget agreement between the Government of the Generaliat and the PSC includes an annex on infrastructure, which includes, among others, the three major projects that the Catalan socialists had demanded. However, in the North Ronda del Vallès to connect Terrassa, Sabadell and Castellar del Vallès is where there is more progress.
There is also the "modernization" of the El Prat airport "in parallel to the development and protection of the Llobregat Delta", the transfer of resources for the management of Rodalies or giving impetus to the pending procedures to be able to start work on the Hard Rock in the Tarragona regions. "Infrastructures are necessary to generate prosperity," Salvador Illa, leader of the PSC, justified this Wednesday.
It has been the element that has unblocked the negotiation between the Republicans and the Socialists, which had been stuck for several days. It is agreed to make effective during the first quarter of this year with the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda an agreement and financing agreement that guarantees the drafting of the infrastructure project that must connect Terrassa, Sabadell and Castellar, a route proposed in the Pla Mobilitat del Vallès specific. The execution will be the responsibility of the Generalitat. This new highway will connect with the C-58 and also with the section of the B-40 between Terrassa and Abrera, which is expected to be fully operational this year. The Government assured yesterday that there have still been no contacts with the ministry led by Raquel Sánchez, former socialist mayor of Gavà.
In relation to the El Prat airport, whose expansion was considered in 2021 by the central government and Aena but was later left in a drawer after Esquerra's rejection, it has now been agreed that throughout this year a technical commission will agree "a new model" airport with the central Executive. The purpose of modernizing the infrastructure is for it to "gain capacity and become a true intercontinental hub", a constant claim of the Catalan executives in the last decade.
It is qualified, however, that the "modernization" will be done with respect to biodiversity, the coexistence of the neighbors and the European environmental directives, the aspects that have raised the most opposition to the expansion. Thus, the accent is placed on the protected natural area of the Llobregat Delta, where 49 million euros will be invested until the year 2026 to achieve a natural area with biodiversity and a technical and sustainable agricultural system in the long term.
There will also be technical work to move to a model in which the Government of the Generalitat is part of the governance of the infrastructure, now it is a matter of Aena, a public State company, and so that there is a high-speed rail connection with the airports of Girona and Reus with the aim of improving the competitiveness of Catalan infrastructures.
During this year the processes related to the Salou and Vila-seca Recreational and Tourist Consortium, better known as Hard Rock, will be completed. There will be a final approval of the urban development plan during the first semester of 2023 and the availability of the land where the macro-complex should be located will be maintained.
The Socialists and the Republicans have agreed to "ensure the execution of the necessary works to complete the Mediterranean Corridor, guaranteeing interoperability and intermodality" as it passes through the Camp de Tarragona. This includes having standard gauge between Castellón and La Boella and in the Tortosa branch line. Mixed gauge will also be implemented at the Vila-seca and Castellbisbal junctions, and a new rail access to the port of Tarragona will be built.
A new electricity substation at the height of Mont-Roig will also be negotiated with the Government to respond to the industrial development needs of the Camp de Taragona.
The transfer of the economic resources necessary for the proper management of Rodalies in what is the responsibility of the Generalitat will be agreed with the central government. This will be approved by the Mixed Commission on Economic and Fiscal Affairs, one of the bilateral bodies between the Government and the central Executive.
The agreement on economic transfers must be complemented with an update of the Rodalies Plan 2020-2030 that includes the whole of the Catalan railway system. The necessary actions will also be agreed with Renfe to acquire trains and improve those that already exist and the workshops as long as the Generalitat does not have an operator that can provide a comprehensive service. The agreement also includes the transfer of ownership of infrastructures that can be segregated from the railway network and necessary to provide the service.
