A golf course in Panticosa, snow cannons for almost 80 million euros or cable cars to connect ski resorts. These are some of the projects contemplated by the Pyrenees Plan promoted by the Government of Aragon, some of them financed with Next Generation funds for “sustainable tourism”.
The total cost of the Pirineos Plan does not stop growing, this same week Azcón has reiterated the investment of 78 million euros in snow cannons for the ski resorts, to which 64 million are added for other investments linked to this plan, of which 48 come from funds from the Government of Aragon.
From the Platform in Defense of the Mountains they doubt the sustainability of these projects and their adjustment to “the principles” of these European funds, which require a large amount of natural resources, water in the case of the golf course or the snow cannons. , and generate a “great environmental impact.” The protocols for the allocation of European Next Generation Funds for sustainable tourism establish that “all investments and reforms must justify that they do not entail significant damage to any of the six environmental objectives defined by the EU: climate change mitigation, adaptation to climate change, the sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, the transition towards a circular economy, the prevention and control of pollution and the protection and recovery of biodiversity and ecosystems.
One of the projects that will receive European funds for sustainable tourism is a golf course in Panticosa, with 3,068,546.65 euros allocated by the government of Aragon from Next Generation Funds. José Martínez, from the Platform in Defense of the Mountains, states that this project “evidently does not meet the environmental and protection requirements posed by the Next Generation Funds”, due to the “problems in water management” and the commitment to fight against climate change that these funds require.
New car parks have also been planned in Sallent de Gállego and Formigal town with six million euros from European funds. In the case of Sallent, the parking is planned as underground, in the center of the town, which has generated protests among the neighborhood: “They don’t understand how, in the times we are in, other tourist towns similar to Sallent opt for pacify the streets, by removing cars from the center and pedestrianizing the entire historic center, while in Sallent it is decided to make a parking lot in the middle of the town, with the consequent increase in traffic, and with the effects that the construction will entail of the same.” In the case of Formigal, parking is proposed as supplementary to that of the ski resort on the Espelunziecha slopes, which cover several hectares. “Even if it were necessary for space, financing it with Next Generation Funds does not make any sense,” explains Martínez.
Union of stations
In November 2022 it was made public that the Ministry of Industry had allocated Netx Generation Funds for “sustainable tourism” to four projects to expand ski resorts located in the Aragonese Pyrenees. The first of them was the union of the Candanchú, Astún and Formigal stations, which was split into two, on the one hand, a cable car that would connect the Candanchú and Astún stations, both privately owned, currently connected by shuttle bus and to which the Ministry of Industry assigned a subsidy of 10 million euros from Next Generation Funds. The second project contemplated another cable car that would link the Formigal station with the highest area of Astún, for which a subsidy of 26 million euros was obtained. This plan was rejected by the government of Javier Lambán due to strong opposition from neighbors and environmentalists, since the route crossed the Canal Roya, an area that is still waiting to be named a protected natural park.
These funds, which were initially going to be allocated to uniting stations, have been reallocated into new projects. Firstly, the construction of a cable car that will link the ski resorts of Astún and Candanchú. The Government of Aragon has assigned a subsidy of 45 million euros, of which 10 million correspond to Next Generation Funds. Currently, the stations are connected with a shuttle bus service.
The construction of a cable car in Benasque is also contemplated, with a budget of 16.3 million euros, ten of them coming from European funds and the rest from the Government of Aragon. “The project involves the felling of several hectares of black pine and birch for the implementation of the suspension towers for the tractor cable and for the construction of construction tracks that connect Benasque as each of the anchor points of the bollards. In addition, a wide regulatory evacuation route must be maintained. We understand that the project fails to comply with the chapter relating to the protection and recovery of biodiversity and ecosystems,” they state. This project is linked “with the construction of a thousand homes in Benasque, where several plots have already been reclassified for this purpose. The plan lacks a geotechnical study despite being a geologically unstable area, it has already been put out to tender but without a resolution yet. To date, no work on the project has begun,” they say from the Platform in Defense of the Mountains.
Projects financed by the Government of Aragon
On the other hand, the Pyrenees Plan contemplates a series of actions that do not have funding from Europe. One of them is the Panticosa mountain slide, with an estimated budget of 6.7 million euros. This infrastructure will allow visitors to sled three kilometers through the area of the ski resort’s slopes, with a gradient of more than 700 meters, at a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour. In the 2024 budget of the Government of Aragon, an item of four million was allocated for the project “and now we are committed to contributing the 2.2 million in 2025 which, added to the 500,000 euros allocated by the Panticosa City Council between 2024 and 2025, will allow the project to be executed in its entirety. We hope that this will be a reality in 2025,” said Jorge Azcón in July, after the signing of the agreement.
The construction of an aerial walk and a Tibetan bridge is also proposed in the Collarada Domain (€368,000) Tourist convoy (€312,000), in Villanúa. From the Platform in Defense of the Mountains they explain that they are unaware “that such projects already formatted exist.”
The renovation of machinery and vehicles, the rehabilitation and construction of buildings and other infrastructure and the carrying out of environmental work in the alpine and cross-country ski resorts of the autonomous community will also be financed with 78 million euros. As Toño Gericó, general director of Aramón, explained, “609 new cannons are going to be installed. Latest generation cannons that make energy costs 30% lower. Work has been done on the preparation and renewal by state-of-the-art canyons of what we already had snow cover, growing in five km of snow cover and, in the coming years, we will see a larger surface area.” However, Martínez considers that this investment “lacks any analysis of energy or water consumption in areas with seasonal water problems.” Martínez expresses his doubts regarding the financing of these cannons, since, despite Aramón being a company financed 50% by the Government of Aragon, 90% of the amount of the new snowmaking systems will come from the public coffers. .
“As it stands at the moment, climate change does not seem to us to consider converting ski resorts to try to generate more snow,” explains Martínez, who assures that changing the cannons would be logical to improve their efficiency, but that what What is proposed is “an increase in the number of canyons so that there is more snow and more ski areas.” The spokesperson for the Platform in Defense of the Mountains does not consider it “logical” to confront “climate change within the high mountains thinking that simply by making more snow.”
He also explains that all these projects have a connection “with the real estate business” and that “the model proposed to establish the population is tourism, Aragon is depopulating at full speed and investments should allow the population to settle.”
According to the Platform in Defense of the Mountains, these projects financed with Netx Generation Funds should have completed 100% work in December 2024. Then the execution percentage was made more flexible to 75% and later to 50%. “Now we have learned through the press of the government’s intention to meet work deadlines without executing the initial percentage established by the protocols.”
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