The second celebration for the Sagunt gigafactory unites Valencian unions and companies

Seven months and 12 days after the election of Sagunt by SEAT-Volkswagen, the confirmation of that decision has been lived in the Valencian Community since yesterday with almost the same joy.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
09 November 2022 Wednesday 21:32
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The second celebration for the Sagunt gigafactory unites Valencian unions and companies

Seven months and 12 days after the election of Sagunt by SEAT-Volkswagen, the confirmation of that decision has been lived in the Valencian Community since yesterday with almost the same joy.

They have been "complex, difficult" weeks, acknowledged President Ximo Puig in his appearance before the media, visibly happy with the announcement of the car company, which was clear and forceful in its statement. "Spain will have its first battery plant in Sagunt (Valencia), hand in hand with PowerCo Spain", declared Wayne Griffiths, president of SEAT.

After the announcement, the celebrations. Many shared on social networks, such as that of President Pedro Sánchez, or the Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, who highlighted the "commitment" that the company has with Spain to develop "an electromobility hub from here on a global level". Maroto said that they will continue working, "reinforcing this commitment in a new line, making Spain a true international hub for electromobility".

The delegate of the Government in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, or the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, also positively valued the news yesterday, but beyond the public institutions, the companies and workers of the Valencian Community are the ones who have applauded especially this second piece of news about the celebrated, for 231 days now, battery gigafactory.

It is not surprising, therefore, the statement by the president of the CEV, Salvador Navarro, who has affirmed that "as of today Volkswagen is already a Valencian company". June at the CEV headquarters, stated that "we want to be a Valencian company".

Navarro reiterated his gratitude for the effort made by the Generalitat Valenciana and the Sagunto City Council "to facilitate it", a gratitude shared by AVIA, the automotive and mobility cluster, who places high hopes on this project. The president of AVIA, Mónica Alegre, expressed her confidence that there will be opportunities "for the current partners of the cluster -122 companies- and all those who will be in the future and who make up the entire value chain of the automotive sector and the sustainable mobility. She also said that the Valencian territory is "reliable and puts the resources to generate opportunities".

Also from the Association of Entrepreneurs of Camp de Morvedre (ASECAM), its president Cristina Plumed, told La Vanguardia yesterday that "there was a lot of confidence that an agreement would be reached, this could not be lost."

Plumed valued that "Sagunt is a magnificent geostrategic place" and took the opportunity, already knowing that the project is going ahead, to highlight the pending challenges: mobility around the plant, mainly due to the future saturation of the V-23; the training of talent and key infrastructures, such as the Cantabrian-Mediterranean Corridor.

Meanwhile, for the Valencia Chamber, the decision is "the result of a job well done when it comes to valuing the logistics spaces that the Valencian Community has."

Also from the unions yesterday breathed more calmly. Ismael Sáez, general secretary of UGT-PV, told this newspaper that with his confirmation, SEAT-Volkswagen "has cleared up an unknown that was weighing like a slab".

Sáez slipped a criticism of the central Executive, as he pointed out that Perte's aid was insufficient, since "even without Perte any administration would have put it on the table" and, instead, thanked the Valencian Government for its work. "The Consell made a great effort and it would have been sad and painful if that effort had been wasted," he added.

For her part, Ana García Alcolea, general secretary of the CCOO-PV, also valued the efforts of the Generalitat Valenciana to retain the Sagunt project, to which she added that "socially we can advance as a Valencian Country if the necessary efforts are made so that these companies establish themselves in our territory".