The central government will fully finance the 185 million euros that the tramway project between the center of Palma and the Son Sant Joan airport will cost. The Minister of Mobility, Raquel Sánchez, announced this Thursday in the Balearic capital the Government's commitment to the construction of the entire line. The works will begin in 2023 and will last 40 months.
The line starts from the center of Palma and will cross the city on a 10.8-kilometre route that will include the construction of two viaducts. The journey will last 30 minutes and there will be trips every 10 minutes. Palma airport is the second in Spain with more passengers during the summer season, but it does not have an alternative transport, beyond the EMT buses.
The minister has promised to pay for a work that should have started in 2008. The change of government in the islands, with the arrival of José Ramón Bauzá's PP, and the real estate crisis left a project in the drawer that is now retrieve.
"It is a day in which it is worth being in politics," said Armengol. The Balearic Islands plan to extend the metro line and recover a railway line to the eastern part of the island. "We have made a revolution in mobility in Mallorca," added Armengol.
The mayor of Palma, José Hila, assured that the tramway will be a transformative project with top-quality mobility alternatives and stressed his government's commitment to sustainable mobility. The construction of the tram will make it necessary to modify the mobility of the city of Palma since parking spaces will disappear, part of the streets will be restricted and it will be necessary to modify the circulatory sections of Palma.
This is the first section of the tram, which is expected to be in operation in 2026. From then on, an extension of the line is proposed to reach Platja de Palma, one of the areas with the highest tourist density in Mallorca. The third phase of the tram plans to connect the center of Palma with the Son Espases hospital.
