Isabel Pardo de Vera, former Secretary of State for Transport and former president of Adif in the governments of Pedro Sánchez, announced this Thursday that she is resigning from the position that the socialist mayor of A Coruña, Inés Rey, offered her last April to direct. the urban planning of the city with an eye on 2050. The step back from the star signing of the A Coruña local government occurs after the opposition parties, both PP and BNG, questioned the appointment due to Pardo de Vera’s links with two of the main real estate operations that are underway in the second largest city in Galicia. “Citizens want efficient managers who carry out projects, not politicians who throw lies in their faces and scare away technicians and great professionals of public-private collaboration,” she complained in the statement in which announces that he will not occupy the positions that Rey offered him.
The mayor of A Coruña made public last April that Pardo de Vera, who left the Sánchez Government in February 2023, would direct two key urban planning actions for the city: the strategic plan that will include its future urban planning and the Coruña Marítima project. This last initiative will decide how the central docks that remained and will become disused will be urbanized after the gradual transfer of port activity to a dock located in the neighboring town hall of Arteixo. In his first meeting with the technical director of these projects, Rey highlighted “the solvency, track record in public management and dedication” of Pardo de Vera, “a highly qualified person.”
The appointment did not please the opposition. Both PP and BNG reproached him for his relationship with the Ginkgo investment fund, which promotes an important urban development operation in As Xubias, the last remaining fishing village in A Coruña, located in a privileged enclave, next to some train tracks and with views. to the beach of Santa Cristina. The BNG has made it clear that it appreciates “conflict of interest” and “incompatibility” in this situation.
Pardo de Vera acknowledges in her statement this Thursday that she is an advisor to this fund based in Luxembourg, but maintains that her “collaboration is limited solely to the urban regeneration project of the Oviedo Gas Factory”: “I have not carried out any management , meeting or collaboration related to the projects that may be developed in A Coruña.” The popular people have also reproached him for his partner being the main promoter of another important project that is already underway in the city: the San Pedro de Visma urbanization.
The former Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda reduces criticism of these links with important urban planning operations in A Coruña to “slander”. The local government, for its part, has “deeply” regretted the resignation of Pardo de Vera because, in its opinion, the city loses “a person with more than proven worth,” Europa Press reports. He considers that the former president of Adif is a victim of “hoaxes, lies and false accusations” that affect “her professional life and even her family life.” “It is a shame that this irresponsible and dirty way of doing politics practiced by the PP ends up contributing to great professionals in their respective sectors not wanting to work in this city,” concludes the Rey executive.
Pardo de Vera resigned as Secretary of State for Transport in February 2023, after the scandal over train convoys that did not fit through the tunnels of Asturias and Cantabria. The one in A Coruña is not the first position he has resigned due to criticism. The association of large rental owners tried to sign her after her departure from the Government but ended up backing down due to the commotion it caused. Just a few days ago he declared Koldo García as a witness in the National Court’s investigation for the awarding of illegal contracts during the pandemic. Before the judge, the former president of Adif denied having received instructions to buy masks from the company of the former advisor to the former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos.
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